

41 

.C43 







STORIES 

OF WILD FLOWERS 
CHILDREN LOVE 

CHANDLER 


















STORIES OF WILD FLOWERS 
CHILDREN LOVE 


CHANDLER 

















* 




























































. 




























































STORIES 

OF WILD FLOWERS 
CHILDREN LOVE 

A SCIENCE READER 

for 

THE PRIMARY GRADES 


BY 

KATHERINE CHANDLER 

\\ 

Author of 

“Habits of California Plants” 

“In the Reign of Coyote: Folklore from the Pacific Coast” 
“The Bird-Woman of the Lewis and Clark Expedition” 
“As California Wild Flowers Grow” 


WITH 25 ILLUSTRATIONS 


PHILADELPHIA 

P. BLAKISTON’S SON & CO. 

1012 WALNUT STREET 


Q^ v 

CA^ 


Copyright, 1923, by Katherine Chandler 


©C1A705134 


PRINTED IN U. S. A 
BY THE MAOLE PRESS YORK PA 

APR 27 ^3 


Go Sister 

Mabel G. Chandler, whose work is pre¬ 
paring LITTLE CHILDREN FOR THE DUTIES 
AND PLEASURES OF AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP. 





. 





< 















PREFACE 


The plants chosen for this book have the simplest 
blossoms, such as can be observed easily by the 
child from seven years of age on. I have had even 
younger pupils intelligently interested. No plant 
has been treated fully, as that would be too diffi¬ 
cult for the child. On the other hand, every 
fact given is scientifically true so that what the 
children learn in these pages will not need to 
be corrected when they become mature students, 
as plants do not change their habits in the brief 
span of man’s life. 

In the lessons, the attempt is made by suggestion 
to connect the Nature Study with the other Primary 
subjects—drawing, arithmetic, geography and 
history, as well as with the study of insect life and 
with the love of the beautiful. The attempt is also 
made to extend the interest in growing plants to the 
home life. If our American civilization is to con¬ 
tinue, the schools and homes must be more 
closely affiliated. The connecting link is the child. 
If we can stimulate it to ask questions at home, 
to be answered by one of the family, we are draw¬ 
ing a little nearer. The child of the Primary 
School is in the questioning age. I believe that 
books should be written with some questions for 
him to answer instead of being filled entirely with 
pages of information. 

vii 



Vlll 


PREFACE 


If we get little children interested in the growing 
things around them, we have given them an 
inspiring gift for life. We have opened up to 
them a realm more wonderful than Fairyland. 
And what are fairies after all? They are but the 
creations of our fancy, endowed by us with the 
powers we fain would have ourselves. They are 
only human beings raised to the superlative. 
But a plant , now that is wonderful. A tiny brown 
seed goes into the ground—sometimes by its own 
action—and it develops into a beautiful blossom 
of graceful form and exquisite coloring. We could 
not imagine the marvel of plant growth; yet it is 
a truth that lies all around us and our eyes need 
only to be opened to enjoy it. 

The photographs were taken by Mr. Antone J. 
Soares of Hayward, California. No attempt has 
been made to have a scale of size, as it is desirable 
to give each flower as full detail as possible. My 
sister, Miss Mabel G. Chandler, has tried the 
lessons in the San Francisco Public Schools and 
has made suggestions regarding thought content 
and vocabulary. 


Katherine Chandler. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 


I. Buttercup. 1 

II. Buttercup, Again. 6 

III. Parts of the Flower.11 

IV. Poppy.15 

V. Cream-Cup. 18 

VI. Baby-Blue-Eyes.23 

VII. Baby-Blue-Eyes, Again.28 

VIII. Wild Hollyhock.28 

IX. Filaree.32 

X. Miner’s Lettuce.45 

XI. Wild Portulaca.51 

XII. White Forget-Me-Not., . 57 

XIII. Wall Flower.63 

XIV. Shooting Star.70 

XV. Trillium.76 

XVI. Iris.82 

XVII. Iris, Again.88 

XVIII. Blue-Eyed Grass.95 

XIX. Fritillaria. 100 

XX. Soap Root.106 

XXI. Azalea.113 

XXII. Johnny-Jump-Up.117 

XXIII. Johnny-Jump-Up, Again.123 

XXIV. Farewell to Spring.129 

XXV. Wild Cucumber.135 

ix 


























































ILLUSTRATIONS 

Buttercup. 2 

Marsh Buttercup. 7 

Parts of the Flower. 12 

Poppy. 14 

Cream-Cup. 19 

Baby-Blue-Eyes.. 24 

Climbing Baby-Eyes. 29 

Wild Hollyhock. 33 

Filaree. 39 

Miner’s Lettuce. 46 

Wild Portulaca. 52 

White Forget-Me-Not. 58 

Wall Flower. 64 

Shooting Star. 71 

Trillium. 77 

Iris. 83 

Little Iris. 89 

Blue-Eyed Grass. 96 

Fritillaria. 101 

Soap Root. 107 

Azalea. 114 

Johnny-Jump-Up. 118 

Dog Violet. 124 

Farewell to Spring. 130 

Wild Cucumber. 136 

xi 














































I 

BUTTERCUPS 


“Buttercups and Daisies, 

Oh! the pretty flowers, 

Coming ere the Springtime 
To tell of sunny hours.” 

Mary Howitt. 

Does your Grandmother sing you that song? 
My Father sang it to me when I was a tiny girl. 
He had learned it from his Grandmother. For 
many years our people have been singing it to 
their children. They have sung it because they 
know that the children love these flowers. They 
are such friendly flowers. They are always willing 
to tell children what is good for them. 

Hold a buttercup under Mary’s chin to see “if 
she likes butter.” See how quickly a bright yellow 
light shines on her skin. Try it under John’s 
chin. His skin shines with a yellow light too. 
That means that Mary and John “like butter.” 
Try it under the chins of your other playmates. 
I think you will find that they all ‘Tike butter.” 
They ought to, because butter will make them 
strong and healthy. 

Mrs. Buttercup does not make the inside of her 
cup shiny just to help children find out what 
they like. No, indeed! She makes it bright so 
that she can get help in her life work. 

1 


2 


WILD FLOWERS 



Fig. 1.—Buttercup. (.Photographed by A . J , Soares.) 




BUTTERCUPS 


3 


Her work is to make good seeds. She knows 
that she can make the best seeds if she can 
have some insect to help her. She is willing to 
pay well for help. She wears a pretty dress so 
as to attract the eye of the helper. She sets out a 
dish of honey to please its tongue. She makes the 
honey fragrant to please its nose. 

Take a stem of Buttercups in your hand. Look 
at the open flower. The pretty colored part we call 
the “ corolla ” or crown. Each part of the corolla is 
called a “petal.” Count how many petals there 
are in the Buttercup’s shining crown. Are there 
the same number of petals in the next Buttercup? 

Now look at a bud. See the green covering it 
wears. We call this the “calyx” or cup. It 
holds the corolla. See how the calyx is covered 
with fine hairs. Mrs. Buttercup puts them on to 
keep the baby flowers warm. She is as careful 
of her babies as your Mother is of your little 
Brother. Your Mother puts warm clothes on 
your Baby when he goes out in the cold. Does 
she not? So Mrs. Buttercup has covered her 
calyx with soft hairs to keep her bud warm. 

When the bud grows larger, the calyx opens into 
five parts. We call each of these parts of the calyx 
a “sepal.” Is the sepal hairy inside? Does your 
Mother put fur against your Baby’s skin? 

See how the sepals curve backward as they open. 
See how the7petals are wrapped closely around 
each other. You see that the outside of the petal 
is noCshining. It is a pale yellow. 


4 


WILD FLOWERS 


Now look again at your open Buttercup. It 
shows the inside of the petal. Mrs. Buttercup 
has varnished the inside of her corolla. When 
the Buttercups open in a field, the sun shines right 
into their cups. The varnished inside throws 
back the sunshine brightly. You know y©ur 
varnished school desk throws back a brighter light 
than does the dull floor. 

This bright golden light flashes right into the eye 
of some insect who is searching for food. 

“Gold! Gold! Gold!/' she chuckles. “That 
means good food. I will go and get it." 

Very soon she alights on a Buttercup. 

“ Good! Good!Good!," she murmurs contentedly. 
“What a sweet smell. I must get to that smell." 

Look at the Buttercup petal. See all the little 
fine lines leading down to the center. These are 
called “honey paths." See where they end. 

See that heavy little plate set right on the bottom 
of the petal. That is full of honey. Sometimes 
it is so full that it overflows. It is this honey 
which makes the buttercups smell sweet. 

Mrs. Bug lights on the edge of a petal. She 
finds a “honey path." Down she walks. Soon 
she is at the edge of the plate of honey, eating fast. 
Oh, isn’t she glad she came? I just wish you 
could share her party. 

Look at your Buttercup again. Inside the 
corolla, you see standing up many little stems, 
each with a tiny box on top. These stems we 
call “stamens." The tiny boxes we call “anthers." 


BUTTERCUPS 


5 


Each anther is full of a golden powder, which is 
called “pollen.” 

As Mrs. Bug moves around at the bottom of the 
petals, sucking out the honey, she touches the 
stamens with her body. Then the anthers open 
and let the pollen fall over her. You can try it 
for yourself. Take a pin and jostle the lower parts 
of the stamens in a full grown Buttercup. The 
anthers will open and the pollen will fall out. 
You can play that you are a little Bug until you 
see how a buttercup works. 


BUTTERCUP, AGAIN 


“0 velvet Bee! you’re a dusty fellow— 

You’ve powdered your legs with gold.” 

Jean Ingelow. 

Has your Mother read you that poem? If she 
has not, ask her please to do so. I am sure you will 
like to learn it. It gives you pretty pictures to 
remember. 

And that is just what happened to Mrs. Bug 
in the Buttercup. Her legs and her body got well 
powdered with golden pollen. 

Mrs. Bug is always very hungry. She can eat 
more honey than one Buttercup holds. She finds 
that the Buttercup dish just suits her taste. When 
she eats all in one flower, she moves to the next 
Buttercup. Just here is where she helps Mrs. 
Buttercup in her life work. 

Look at your buttercup again. Inside the ring 
of stamens, see the little hill covered with little 
green sticks. Each of these is called a “ pistil. ” 
When Mrs. Bug goes into the second Buttercup, 
her body and legs touch the pistil on the way 
in. Some of the pollen from her body or legs 
gets onto the pistils. The top of the pistil is 
called the “stigma.” The stigma takes this pol¬ 
len and sends it down the inside of the pistil to 

6 


BUTTERCUP, AGAIN 


7 



Fig. 2.—Marsh Buttercup. (Photographed by A. J. Soares .) 






8 


WILD FLOWERS 


a little seed-case. In this seed-case, little seed 
germs are waiting. We call these seed germs 
“ ovules.” The pollen makes these ovules grow 
into seeds. 

Now, that is just what Mrs. Buttercup wants. 
She colors her corolla a beautiful shining gold to 
catch the eye of Mrs. Bug. She sets out a dish 
of fragrant honey to please her nose and tongue. 
She makes little paths so that Mrs. Bug can find 
this dish. She puts her stamens where Mrs. 
Bug must touch them as she eats. Mrs. Buttercup 
fixes the stamens so that when they are moved the 
anthers will open and throw out the golden pollen. 
She makes the pistils so that when the pollen is 
dusted onto the stigma, it will send it down to the 
waiting ovules. She makes the ovules start 
growing into seeds when the pollen falls upon them. 

Is it not wonderful? 

You did not think that Mrs. Buttercup was such 
a wonder maker, did you? You just thought of 
her as a pretty golden flower sitting in the sun 
until you picked her. 

Perhaps you think of your Mother as just your 
Mother and not as a wonder maker. Think a 
while about all your Mother does from early morn¬ 
ing until late at night. Keeping a home and rear¬ 
ing good children needs much wonderful work. 

Mrs. Buttercup thinks her pollen box and her 
seed-case her most important parts. As soon as 
the sunshine leaves her, she folds the corolla 
tightly around them. In this way, she keeps them 


BUTTERCUP, AGAIN 


9 


warm during the night. She wraps them up when 
it is cold or wet. 

Did you ever look at a Buttercup field when it 
was raining? Did the corollas stay open? Did 
the field shine? 

After the seed is started, the corolla stays open. 
Then the sun shines right in on the seed-case and 
ripens the seeds. 

Mrs. Buttercup does not stop her care when she 
has the seeds started. She wants each seed to 
get a good place to start a new life of its own. 
You know your Mother and Father want you to 
grow up and get started in some useful work. 
They take care of you while you are too young to 
take care of yourself. They give you schooling 
for whatever work you think you are going to like. 

Now, Mrs. Buttercup knows that her children 
are going to like to be Buttercups. She feeds 
them while they are young. She waits until they 
are ripe to send them away from home. She 
makes them grow so that they can help themselves. 
On each seed, she grows a little hook. When a 
seed is ripe, it hooks itself to anything passing. 
Perhaps some hooked themselves to your dress, 
Dorothy. Or to your stockings, Robert. Then 
you gave them a free ride. After awhile, they fell 
off. They buried themselves in the earth. There, 
the next year they started new Buttercup plants. 

If you want a new dish for your play parties, 
try buttercup seeds. The California Indians used 
to gather baskets and baskets full of these seeds. 


10 


WILD FLOWERS 


Think how long it took to fill a basket with such 
tiny seeds. But it was fun. Out in the sunshine, 
all the women and all the children working together. 
Perhaps you think they did not laugh and play. 
Well, you should have been there. 

In the Indian camp there was always a fire. 
They placed a flat rock on top of the fire. When 
the rock was hot, they poured some buttercup 
seeds on it and parched them. Sometimes they 
ate the parched seeds dry. Sometimes they made 
them into a mush. It tasted somewhat like parched 
corn mush. 

You can gather seeds and plant them to start a 
California Wild Flower Garden at school. You 
will have lots of fun watching the plants grow and 
bloom and the insects coming to see them. Just 
try it. 

Good luck! 


Ill 

PARTS OF THE FLOWER 

The CALYX is the outside cup. 

It holds the flower snugly up. 

Its SEPALS have been woven stout 
To keep the cold and dampness out. 

COROLLA is the colored part 
That gladdens every child-like heart. 

Its PETALS wave upon the breeze 
To summon butterflies and bees. 

The STAMENS next within the ring, 

Their ANTHERS set on magic spring. 
These ANTHERS store a generous meed 
Of POLLEN, needed to make SEED. 

The PISTILS in the center fare 
For they must have the greatest care. 

Their STIGMAS catch the POLLEN beads 
Which turn the OVULES into SEEDS. 


11 


12 


WILD FLOWERS 



Fig. 3. —(After Atwood’s “Civic and Economic Biology ”) 








IV 

CALIFORNIA. POPPY 


California’s child am I, 

Born ’neath sun and shining sky. 

Open hearted is my bloom, 

Each who loves will here find room. 

You children of California know the Poppy as 
well as you do the Buttercup. You have seen 
it rush out after the first fall rains. It grows 
anywhere, along the railroad track, in grassy 
meadows, on sunny hilltop. It brightens so much 
of our land that we have made it our State Flower. 

Has the Poppy the same corolla as the Butter¬ 
cup? You see at once that it has not. It has 
only four petals. They are not varnished inside 
as the petals of Buttercup are. See how satiny 
thpy are. This satin finish turns the light into 
tlie eye of the insect almost as well as the butter¬ 
cup’s varnish does. 

When Mrs. Bug sees this lovely field of color, 
she rushes to it. Does she find dishes of honey 
like Mrs. Buttercup sets out? No, she does not. 
Mrs. Poppy does not make honey for her visitors. 
She does make an extra lot of pollen so that they 
can eat all they want. Just dip your nose into the 
Poppy center. Ha! Ha! 

13 


14 


WILD FLOWERS 



Fig. 4.—California Poppy. (Photographed by A. J. Soares.) 






CALIFORNIA POPPY 


15 


Little child, “ you’re a dusty fellow, 

You’ve powdered your ‘nose’ with gold.” 

As the visiting Bug is eating the pollen, she gets 
some dust over her. She carries this on her when 
she crawls into the next Poppy. There the stigmas 
get hold of the pollen and send it down to the 
ovules. The Poppy pollen makes the Poppy 
ovules into Poppy seeds, just as the Buttercup 
pollen makes the Buttercup ovules into Butter¬ 
cup seeds. 

See how different the calyx of Poppy is from the 
calyx of Buttercup. Is it not a dainty little 
nightcap? Sit still near a Poppy bed some bright 
warm morning. Keep your eyes on a green 
wrapped bud. The green cap begins to rise up 
slowly, showing the orange color inside. It rises 
higher and higher. Suddenly—Pop, off it shoots 
into the air! Then the four Poppy petals unroll 
themselves into the beautiful flower. 

After the calyx is thrown off, the corolla does its 
work. Each night the petals wrap themselves 
tightly around the stamens and pistils. Or if the 
weather is cloudy or foggy or rainy, the petals 
curl tightly to keep the pistils and stamens safe 
from harm. 

See how the Poppy petals sit upon a little plat¬ 
form. If you pull off a petal, what comes with 
it? If you pull off all four petals, what is still 
on top of the platform? Can you tell us, George, 
what is it that comes off with the petals? 

“The Stamens?” 



10 


WILD FLOWERS 


Yes that is right. And what stays on the plat¬ 
form, Gladys?” 

“The pistil?” 

Yes that is right. Look how the seed-case grows 
through this platform. See the little ribs along 
its sides. Watch it as it grows older. See how it 
twists until it opens and scatters its seeds. If a 
strong wind is blowing when the seed-case opens, 
the little black seeds get carried far off. 

Notice Mrs. Poppy’s leaves. Are they the same 
shape as the Buttercup leaves? Do they come 
out from the stem in the same way? Are they 
the same shade of green? Which do you think 
is prettier, a bunch of Buttercup leaves or a 
bunch of Poppy leaves? 

Does the root of the Poppy die when the leaves 
fade away? See for yourself. 

You can use the Poppy seeds at your doll 
parties. They are good to eat. You know we buy 
“Poppy Seed Bread” and “Poppy Seed Buns” 
at the bakeries. 

If you had been born a Californian Indian long 
ago, your Mother would have boiled some Poppy 
leaves for greens for you. They might taste 
bitter to you to-day, when you are used to spinach, 
but they tasted good to little Wantasson two 
hundred years ago. 

If you had been born a Spanish Californian 
boy or girl, your Mother would have fried some 
Poppy leaves in olive oil. Then, she would have 
rubbed this grease on your head. It made the 


CALIFORNIA POPPY 


17 


hair long and glossy. The Spanish Californians 
all had lovely hair. 

To-day some people use Poppy juice to cure 
headaches or to make them go to sleep. I will 
tell you a secret. Cross your heart and promise 
not to tell. No, on second thought, I think it 
would be better to tell every one you meet. 

Just spend some time each day out in the sun¬ 
shine studying the Poppy habits. Then, you can 
snap your fingers at any old headache, and you 
will sleep as sound as a log. 

Sweet dreams! 


Y 

CREAM-CUPS 


A pastoral scene delights the eye— 

Sleek kine, still ewes, with lambkins spry, 

And pannikins crowded on the hills 
Which Flora’s Fairy Jersey fills. 

A little cousin of the Poppy is the Cream-Cup. 
You and I may think it does not look much like 
its brighter cousin, but then John Brown does 
not look like his big cousin Tom. 

Botanists say they are cousins. Botanists are 
persons who have studied plants well. They 
say that the Poppy and the Cream-Cup are cousins. 
They know. When they say so, you and I must 
believe it. 

The Cream-Cup colors a field as well as do either 
Poppy or Buttercup. Their pale light catches 
the eye of Mrs. Bug. At once she thinks of 
dining. She feels that there must be good food 
awaiting her in such a pretty setting. As she gets 
nearer, whiff! Her nose sniffs in pleasure. Surely 
a great treat awaits her. 

Down she swoops onto a Cream-Cup. She 
smells the honey stronger. There down at the 
lower part of the petal a yellow spot shines into 
her eye. 

“Boom! Boom! ,” she burrs. “What a pretty 
table is set for my dinner.” 

18 


CREAM-CUPS 


19 



Fig. 5. —Cream-Cup. (Photographed by A. J. Soares.) 





20 


WILD FLOWERS 


She crawls down quickly. As she goes, she 
knocks against the stamens. At once, the anthers 
open and pour their pollen over her. When 
she has eaten all the feast set in the first Cream- 
Cup, she goes to a second. Here the pistils are 
ready to make seed. As she passes down 
the honey paths in the cup, her legs touch the 
stigmas and shake some pollen on them. The 
stigmas send down the pollen to the ovules and 
the seeds begin to grow. 

Let us look at a Cream-Cup. Is its corolla satiny 
like that of its cousin Poppy? Does it varnish the 
inside of its petals as Mrs. Buttercup does? Is its 
corolla woven of as thin material as is the corolla 
of Poppy or that of Buttercup? 

Count the petals. You see that it has six, 
while Poppy has but four, and Buttercup has 
more than five. You see that three of the petals 
are set in a little nearer the center than the other 
three are. This is a very good plan. If it gets 
dark or wet or cold, Cream-Cup wraps her petals 
around her stamens and pistils to keep them safe. 
With such thick petals, she could not fold them 
tight enough if they were all set in one circle. 
You can try it with paper. Cut a flower of six 
petals all in one circle.. Cut another flower 
in two sets of three petals. Now, wrap them up. 
Which makes the smaller bundle? Which will 
best keep out the cold? 

Look at a Cream-Cup bud. See how hairy the 
calyx is. That is Cream-Cup’s way of keeping her 


CREAM-CUPS 


21 


baby flowers warm. You see the three sepals on 
the bud. Are they hairy inside? 

Now look at a flower again. Is there any calyx 
on it? No, there is not. Now you see that Mrs. 
Cream-Cup has some of the same habits her cousin 
Mrs. Poppy has. She pushes off her calyx early. 
That is why her petals have to fold together tightly. 
They do the work of the calyx in keeping the pollen 
and pistils safe. 

If you want to know how many stamens there 
are, you have to know how to count. No easy 
four or five about them. You see, studying flowers 
will help you in your counting work. You would 
dislike not to be able to count the stamens in a 
Cream-Cup, would you not? 

There are a number of pistils too. At first, 
they are joined together in a ring. As they grow 
older, they loosen themselves from the ring and 
stand alone. 

If you look at the leaves and stem, you see that 
they are well covered with hairs. This shows that 
Mrs. Cream-Cup likes to grow in the early Spring¬ 
time. She comes out in the warm sunshine, but 
she is ready for cold nights. She does not wish 
her plants to be frost-bitten before her flowers 
have made good seeds. 

Do you know the seed-case of Cream-Cup? 
See how it swells out between the seeds. This 
gives every little smooth seed a tiny cell of its own. 
A dry seed-case will break easily between the two 
seed cells, and then the seeds fall out. 


22 


WILD FLOWERS 


Do you play any games with Cream-Cup? 
We did not when I was a little girl, but perhaps 
other children did. If you know of any games with 
them, will you tell your Teacher? Then, perhaps, 
she will tell me. 

You can draw the Cream-Cup easily. See how 
simple the leaves are. They are not cut into as 
are the leaves of Poppy and Buttercup. When 
you draw the flower, be sure to put in many, 
many stamens. Mrs. Cream-Cup is very sure she 
wants a big supply of pollen. And it is good 
pollen too. 

Have some? 


BABY-BLUE-EYES 


A little bit of sky 

On Mother Earth’s kind breast, 

With smile of welcome shy, 

Rewards our eager quest. 

Is there one of you children who does not hail 
with delight the first Baby-Blue-Eyes you find in 
the Spring? Have you ever grown tired of this 
dainty flower? Even if you live next door to a 
whole field of Baby-Blue-Eyes, you will still love 
them. Their bright blue faces seem to be smiling 
up at us as sweetly as babies smile. 

But if Baby-Blue-Eyes does remind us of a sweet 
little baby, she is not helpless. She is very 
well able to carry on her work. She is also very 
honest. She wishes to pay well any insect who 
helps her. 

She waves her blue corolla above her leaves to 
invite Mrs. Bug to dinner. This lady is very 
glad to accept the invitation. She does not wait 
to send an answer. She hurries along herself, 
quite hungry for the feast. When she reaches Baby- 
Blue-Eyes, she finds several pleasant surprises. 

Mrs. Baby-BluerEyes has not dyed all her 
corolla bright blue. Down near the center, she 
has kept it white. Lest the insects may not care 

23 


24 


WILD FLOWERS 



Fig. 6 —Baby-Blue-Eyes. (Photographed by A. J. Soares.) 




B ABY-B LUE-E YES 


25 


for plain white, she has scattered dots of dark 
blue and black over the light places. 

When Mrs. Bug comes near Baby-Blue-Eyes, 
her nose begins to tickle. 

“ Honey! Honey! Honey!” she hurries along, 
humming in time to her wing beats. “Hurrah! 
Hurrah! Hurrah!” 

Look and see what she will find. You see the 
corolla is shaped like a bell. There are five 
petals, fitting nicely together to make a circle. 
Now look inside the bell. Each petal has set out 
food generously—not one dish, but two. Think 
of that! Two dishes of honey to each petal. 
Now, do you not believe that Mrs. Baby-Blue- 
Eyes has a generous heart? 

There are little honey paths leading to the dishes. 
If Mrs. Bug should happen to have a cold and 
cannot smell the honey, she could still find it by 
using her eyes. 

Mrs. Baby-Blue-Eyes does not want the smallest 
bugs, who can creep in without touching her 
stamens, to seat themselves at her table. She is 
willing to set out a good meal, but she wishes fair 
payment for it. So, she has hung a screen of fine 
hairs over her honey bowls. Your Mother puts 
screens at your windows to keep out the flies, does 
she not? Just so, Mrs. Baby-Blue-Eyes hangs 
up screens in front of her honey to keep out the bugs 
she does not like. Larger bugs, who will help her, 
can easily bend the hairs aside and stick their 
tongues in between. 



26 


WILD FLOWERS 


Mrs. Baby-Blue-Eyes has shaped her little 
brown anther like an arrow. She turns it out 
toward the petal, instead of in toward the center, 
as many flowers do their anthers. When Mrs. 
Bug alights on a petal, she starts down a honey 
path. She knocks against the foot of the stamen. 
Like a flash, the anther springs open and pours 
fine grey pollen over her. It is like when you 
touch the button on the wall and your electric 
light flashes on. Just that quickly does an anther 
open when Mrs. Bug touches the foot of the stamen. 

When Mrs. Bug has eaten all she wants in that 
Baby-Blue-Eyes, she goes to another. Here, as 
she goes in, her head is sure to brush against the 
stigmas. She leaves some pollen on them. They 
send the pollen down to the ovules and the seeds 
are started. 

If no Bug comes to Baby-Blue-Eyes, after 
a while, she turns her anthers around, so that 
they face the center. Then, they opemand the 
pollen falls on the stigmas in that same flower. 
Then seeds are made in the seed-case. Baby- 
Blue-Eyes likes better to have the pollen of one 
flower go to the ovules of another. It makes 
better seed. All plants like to have the pollen 
of one flower get to the ovules in another. That 
is why they invite the insects to help them. 

Baby-Blue-Eyes feels sure that her plan of work 
is a good one to get the insect to help. So, she 
lifts up only five stamens. Remember how many 
stamens Buttercup and Poppy and Cream-Cup 


BABY-BLUE-EYES 


27 


raise aloft. They could lose lots of pollen and still 
make seeds. 

Sometimes, the wind carries away the pollen 
from a flower and it falls on the stigmas in another 
flower. Do you think it is sure to fall on the same 
kind of flower? Is it as sure as if Mrs. Bug carries 
it? 

Baby-Blue-Eyes does not depend upon the wind. 
She sets out to please Mrs. Bug and she succeeds. 
Mrs. Bug finds her honey so delicious that she 
is sure to try the same kind of flower for another 
taste of it. Some days, you just like chocolate 
soda, don’t you, Ruth? No matter what 
kinds are offered you, you choose chocolate. 
And you choose strawberry, Harold. Well, it is the 
same with Mrs. Bug. Some days, her fancy is set 
on Baby-Blue-Eyes honey and no Buttercup soda 
or any other flavor will satisfy her sweet tooth. 

The Baby-Blue-Eyes seeds are healthy. You 
can plant them in your gardens and they will 
grow into good plants. Florists have sent the 
seeds all over the World. Do you know what 
a florist is? I thought you did. The seeds 
grow well in far off countries. They grow healthy 
and send out many flowers. Their flowers are 
pretty to the people there, but they would look 
a little faded to us. The corolla is not so bright 
a blue as our wild flowers wear. Baby-Blue- 
Eyes, to be really beautiful, needs to look up 
at the California sky. 

Let .us keep out under the Californian Sky. 


J 


VII 

BABY-BLUE-EYES, AGAIN 

A little bit of sky 
On Mother Earth’s warm breast 
Draws bees from far and nigh 
And satisfies their quest. 

Baby-Blue-Eyes has several sisters, natives of 
California. Most of them look like her. Their 
color is different, but their shape is the same. 
They have the honey paths, the honey bowls, 
and the hair screens. They are all loved by the 
insect world. 

One of the sisters is quite different, but I think 
you can find her. Instead of growing near the 
ground, it climbs up and throws itself over bushes. 
Its stem is square. You can feel the ^corners. 
But be careful of your fingers. The stem is 
covered with little bristles, each ending in a hook 
and each pointing backward. It has these hooks 
to hold on to bushes with, but if you will put your 
hand in its way, it will hook into it. Hand or 
bush is all the same to Climbing Baby-Eyes, as 
long as it gets up in the world. It only wishes a 
support. It is really weak. If you pull your hand 
away, a long piece of stem comes too. 

The leaves, too, are quite different from those of 
Baby-Blue-Eyes. They clasp the stem as if 

28 


BABY-BLUE-EYES, AGAIN 


29 



Fig. 7. —Climbing Baby-Eyes. (Photographed by A. J. Soares •) 



30 


WILD FLOWERS 


they were afraid of being swung so high in 
the air. They are cut into lobes and each lobe 
points down to the ground. It does look as if these 
leaves wished their mother plant would act as the 
other Baby-Eyes do and cling near Mother Earth. 

The violet corolla is pretty and it brightens the 
brush-heaps over which the plant throws itself. 
They say that in the Spanish California days, the 
young ladies used to wear this Baby-Eyes on 
their party dresses. Pick some for your big 
sister the next time she is going to a party. Do you 
think she will want some a second time? Why? 

Have you read the Californian Indians’ story of 
how the Baby-Blue-Eyes came to be? It goes 
like this: 

“ Coyote had just made the World. 

Eagle looked over it and saw that it was flat. 
She said, ‘There is no place for me to perch? 

‘That is easily changed/ said Coyote. He 
made some little round hills. 

‘Huh!’ sniffed Eagle. ‘Those are only foot¬ 
stools. I want high hills for my perch? 

‘Well, then, Sister Eagle, make better ones to 
suit yourself,’ said Coyote. 

‘Thank you, I will,’ answered Eagle. 

She set to work. She dug her claws into the 
earth and scratched up some mountains. She 
worked very hard. Some of her feathers fell out 
as she worked. These feathers stuck in the ground 
and began to grow. 


BABY-BLUE-EYES, AGAIN 


31 


The long feathers grew into trees. They became 
pines and redwoods and other tall trees. 

The pin feathers grew into bushes. They 
became manzanita and coffee-berry and other 
bushes. 

The soft down from her breast grew into small 
plants. It became Baby-Blue-Eyes and Butter- 
cups and Cream-Cups and Poppies and all the 
little flowering plants.” 

Is not that a pretty story? Most of the Indian 
stories of the Nature around us are pretty stories. 
The Indians lived out of doors most of the time. 
They looked carefully at all things around them. 
They knew about the animals, and they knew 
about the plants. Some plants they knew were 
good to eat. Some were good to cure man if he 
were sick. Some were not good to eat nor good for 
medicine, but they were beautiful to look at. We 
need beautiful things as well as useful things. The 
Indians thought Baby-Blue-Eyes looked like a 
bit of sky fallen to earth, and they loved it. 

Don’t you? 


VIII 

WILD HOLLYHOCK 


Hollyhock, with fragrance laden, 

Curtsies gaily to the Breeze. 

That old Gossip steps out lively 
To spread the news among the Bees. 

When the Poppies and Buttercups, the Cream- 
Cups and Baby-Blue-Eyes are all coloring the 
fields, you see spots of pink here and there. Then, 
you know Wild Hollyhock has come to town. 
Her color is delicate, but she is well built to carry 
on her year’s work. 

Pick a stem. See how the lovely bell-shaped 
blossoms are all crowded to its top. Look at one 
blossom. It looks as if it were made of dainty 
pink gauze. It has many heavy white lines lead¬ 
ing down to the center. You exclaim, “Aha! 
Miss Hollyhock is calling the insects.” 

Even if your eyes did not see these honey paths, 
your nose would tell you she was making honey. 
And such honey! Sweeter even than that of Baby- 
Blue-Eyes. You find the little bowls well filled. 
Over each bowl is the curtain of fine hairs. These 
hairs are so fixed that if any drop of dew falls on 

them, it will slide off without dropping into the 

_ • 

sweet dish, which is thus kept pure. The bees 

32 


WILD HOLLYHOCK 


33 



Fig. 8.—Wild Hollyhock. (Photographed by A. J. Soares .) 



34 


WILD FLOWERS 


just love this feast and come for miles around to 
get it. 

Look again into Miss Hollyhock’s bell. Look 
well at the stamens. In Baby-Blue-Eyes, you 
found five stamens standing up on the corolla. In 
Hollyhock, you find them standing close together 
in a ring. They look like a little vase. When you 
get older, you will be able to divide this vase into 
two circles of stamens. Now, you only need see 
that the little anthers are a lovely rose pink and 
their pollen is a creamy powder. 

You will find that the pistil is inside the stamen 
vase. The pistil does not grow out until after the 
anthers have thrown their creamy powder away. 
Then, it grows out higher than the stamen vase. 
You see it gets ready to make seed too late to use 
the pollen from its own stamens. These were ready 
so long before, that their pollen was carried 
away. It could not get any pollen to make seed, 
if Mrs. Bug did not bring it some from another 
flower. 

But with such a bright gown and with such 
delicious honey, Mrs. Bug is sure to come. And 
after a taste, she is sure to go into another Holly¬ 
hock for some more of the good food. She visits 
one Hollyhock after another. In some, the stamen 
will be sure to be ready to throw out the pollen. 
In others, the pistil will be ready to receive the 
pollen. So, Miss Hollyhock is sure to make good 
seed, and Mrs. Bug repays her forgetting out the 
good meal. 


WILD HOLLYHOCK 


35 


After the pollen has fallen on the pistil, Miss 
Hollyhock does not need the bug any longer. She 
does not make any more food. She is a very 
honest person. She does not wish to bother Mrs. 
Bee unless she is going to pay her. So, she 
changes the bright pink of her corolla to dark 
purplish color. This sign means “No more parties 
in this flower.’’ 

“Hmm!,” hums the Bee. “Is that so? Well, 
I’ll go to a lighter colored Hollyhock.” 

And she swings into a newly opened Hollyhock 
and helps it do its work. 

When the seeds begin to grow, the corolla falls 
off, but the calyx clings on. 

In the flower bud, you can see how the sepals 
fold together to keep the flower safe. See how 
furry they are outside and how silk-lined they 
are inside. You see there are just as many 
sepals in Hollyhock as petals, five sepals and 
five petals. 

If you look at a flower stalk, you will see that 
the buds nearest the ground bloom out first. 
When their corollas fall off, the next higher buds 
bloom out. And so the pink flowers creep up 
the stem higher and higher until the very top 
one waves. Look at other plants and see if they 
all bloom this way. Do those in your garden 
at home bloom from the bottom of the stem up? 

Look at the leaves. Some are nearly round. 
Others are cut into parts. Put a round one 
on a sheet of paper. Draw a pencil mark around 


30 


WILD FLOWERS 


its edge. Now put a cut-into leaf down. Draw 
around its outer edge. You see the leaves are 
the same shape. You will find it easy to draw 
a Hollyhock stem if you will remember the out¬ 
side line of the leaves. The buds are not hard 
to draw. The flower is not hard to draw. 
A stalk of Hollyhock makes a pretty picture. 

Are the round leaves just the same color as the 
cut-into leaves? Are the leaves the same color 
on their tops as on their lower surfaces? Have 
both kinds of leaves hairs on them? Have the 
leaves near the flowers got stems as long as the 
leaves near the ground? Did you ever try to 
get a dye out of the leaves? Just try it. 

Do you use the Hollyhock seeds at your play 
parties? Look how the seed-cases divide. We 
used to play that they were parts of an orange. 
They are good to eat. Watch which birds come 
to eat them. 

Miss Hollyhock has a sister who is a greater help 
at a Doll’s Party than she is. This is Mallow 
who comes into all your gardens. She comes 
up along all the streets, wherever there is the tiniest 
bit of earth. Now, do not turn up your nose 
and sniff, That weed!” Her seed-cases are the 
"cheeses” children all over the world play with. 
They are dented just to be cut up like pies. We 
call them ‘"cheeses” and so do the children in 
England. The children in France and the children 
in Spain play with them and call them ""cheeses” 
in their own language. Do any of you boys 


WILD HOLLYHOCK 


37 


or girls know how to say 11 cheese ” in French 
or in Spanish? Tell us. 

Isn’t it fun to think that we are playing party 
with the same kind of seed-cases that children 
in other countries are playing with? Mother 
Nature sends along many interesting things for 
children. 

Keep your eyes open. 


IX 

FILAREE 


Filaree, dear Filaree, 

Tell me the Truth, I pray 
Does my Mother want me now? 

Or may I longer play? 

Another common plant with divided leaves 
is the Filaree. You have seen its rosettes of green 
leaves springing up all over the ground after the 
first rains. Is that not a pretty way to group 
the leaves? 

Take one leaf stem and lay it on paper. Draw 
your pencil around the outer edge. Make the 
little cut leaves all point the same way. There. 
You have drawn a Filaree leaf. It is not hard 
to do if you remember to look carefully at the outer 
edge. 

As you fingered the leaves, you found them 
fragrant. They are said to be “musky 7 ’ because 
they carry this fragrance of musk. Has your 
Mother in her garden a Rose Geranium? Take 
some leaves of it and some of Filaree. You see 
they look somewhat alike. They smell somewhat 
alike. Their flowers are somewhat alike too. They 
do not send out their stems alike. They do not 
grow to the same height. But, they really are 
cousins. 


38 


FILAREE 


39 



Fig. 9. —Filaree. (Photographed by A. J. Soares .) 







40 


WILD FLOWERS 


The Filaree gets its green rosette placed early 
in the year. Then, it can send out its flowers 
early. Can you see its flower as far off as you 
can a Buttercup blossom? Neither can Mrs. 
Bug. But if the flowers rush out before the bright 
colored ones bloom, Filaree will have numbers 
of visitors. 

She sends up from her green rosette slender 
stems tinted red. These catch the eye of Mrs. 
Bug better than if they were colored green. On 
top of the stem, she pushes out a number of small 
flowers. Each has a little stem of its own, so it 
waves quite freely in the sunshine. 

The calyx has five sepals and the corolla five 
petals. The corolla is not always the same color. 
You find them pale pink or rose pink or lavendar 
or purple. Whatever the color, you find little 
honey paths on all the petals. You know now 
that these paths show the insects the way to the 
honey bowls. 

You also know that while Mrs. Bug eats, she 
jostles the five stamens. Then the five anthers 
pour their pollen on her. When she goes into the 
next Filaree, she leaves the pollen on the stigmas. 
Then, a very wonderful thing happens. 

You would think that Filaree ? s tiny pistils 
would grow into small seed-cases. Now, would 
you not? But you do not know Filaree. She 
suddenly grows tired of having small regular 
parts. She decides to make a surprising 
seed-case. 


FILAREE 


41 


There! See! Her seed-case is your old friend 
“ Clocks .’ 7 Have you not stuck them on your 
sleeve and watched them unwind? We used to 
see “if our Mother wants us” by them, when I 
was a little girl. If they unwound right to the top, 
our Mother wanted us right away, and we had 
better start home quickly. If they kept a few 
twists in, we could play a while longer. 

Then, we made dolls’ scissors of them. Take 
two green seed-cases and stick the end of one partly 
through the other. They look like a pair of 
scissors, do they not? How well will they cut? 
Do the Fairies use them in their dressmaking? 

Mrs. Filaree makes these wonderful seed-cases 
for her own use. She wants to get her seeds 
carried far off to new ground. She can get them 
carried off in two ways. If John or Mary or Old 
Ponto or Baa! Baa! Black Sheep passes, there! 
Some seed-cases catch in their clothing. They carry 
them away from the Mother Plant and drop them 
somewhere. You, John, and you too, Mary, know 
that you had to pull them out of your stockings, 
did you not? They would have been still riding 
there if you had not jerked them out and thrown 
them away. Sometimes Baa! Baa! Black Sheep 
goes thousands of miles away. She goes to a new 
country, with some Filaree seed-cases stuck 
in her wool. That is certainly far enough off from 
the Mother Plant to suit even Mrs. Filaree. 

If no living thing passes, Mrs. Filaree has another 
plan to send her seeds over the earth. She has 


42 


WILD FLOWERS 


grown on their ends those long silky hairs. Some 
warm day in April or May along comes a nice warm 
wind. 

“ Good-bye, children/’ says Mrs. Filaree. “ Get 
aboard this soft wind. Its a fine chance for a 
free ride.” 

The Filaree children do not refuse a free ride 
any more than you do when Mr. Brown stops his 
automobile at your door and invites you in it. 

They give themselves a twist. That loosens 
them from the stem. They spread their long silky 
hairs on the breeze and sail away to new scenes. 

Look at the lower part of the seed-case to see 
what happens when it reaches the ground. See on 
its end the little hook. And on its sides the little 
bristles that curve upward and outward. These 
are what catch in your clothing as you pass. 

When the seed-case falls to the ground, if it is a 
warm day, it curls up its parts. When dew or 
fog falls, it straightens them out. When sunshine 
comes again, it curls them up. It does this over 
and over. Curls up with the sunshine. Straight¬ 
ens out with the dampness. It gets its little bill 
into the ground. It bores down farther until it is 
covered with earth. Then, it lies still and waits 
for the early rains. As soon as they reach it, 
Filaree’s seed begins to work lively. It hurries 
and pushes up a lovely rosette of soft green'musky 
leaves, and Filaree’s circle of work goes on.f 

These wonderful seed-cases have carried Filaree 
all over the World. She travelled in Asia and in 


FILAREE 


43 


Africa on a camel. She crossed to Spain on a goat. 
She sailed to Mexico on a Merino sheep. She 
rode up to California on a horse. What do you 
think of that for free travelling? 

The Filaree has repaid all these animals for 
acting as motors. They all love to eat her musky 
leaves. As she grows older, she sends out longer 
stems with little branches and many, many leaves 
on them. Look at the place where the little 
branches leave the stem. See how swollen it is. 
If you look at your Mother’s geraniums, you will 
see that their stems swell out where the new 
branches start. If you look at the geranium’s 
seed-case, you see it is like Filaree’s. They both 
look like a crane’s bill or a heron’s bill. Botanists 
call the geranium a name that means “crane’s bill” 
and Filaree a name that means “heron’s bill.” 

Is not “Filaree” a pretty word? It sounds like 
a song. It really is not an English word. It comes 
from the Spanish name of the plant. The little 
Spanish Californian boys, Pedro and Juan and 
Carlos, took their horses to the pasture to eat 
“ A Ifilerilla .” To-day, Peter and John and Charles, 
take theirs to munch “Filaree.” The Spanish 
name comes from needle, because the seed-case is 
sharp like a needle. As the years have passed, we 
have shortened the name to “Filaree.” Some 
children call it “Stork’s Bill.” What do you call 
it? What games do you play with it? 

Study the Filaree growing out in the sunny 
field. See what visitors help it. It may not offer 


44 


WILD FLOWERS 


you a feast as it does Beetle and Bossy, the calf, 
but it will afford you many happy hours. And as 
for health, just watching it carefully, will make 
you a Samson. 

Good health! Many travels. 


X 

MINER’S LETTUCE 


My flowers may be small, 

But my leaves make it up. 

They are ranged with good taste, 

And taste good when you sup. 

Have you ever used Miner’s Lettuce for your 
play parties? We used to eat it when I was a little 
girl. The Forty-Niners were very glad to eat it. 
It was a fine change from the beans they had at 
every meal. You know who the Forty-Niners 
were, do you not? 

They were the men who came to California in 
1849. They came to find the beautiful yellow 
gold that had just been discovered in the Sierra 
Nevada Mountains. There were no roads to the 
Mountains in those days. It was hard work to 
get to the gold fields. 

Sometimes a miner could buy a horse near the 
Coast and pack what he needed on its back. Then 
he led it through the rough country many miles 
to the bank of some river. The river was carrying 
gold down from the mountains. The miner 
camped on the river bank. He found the yellow 
gold in the river sands. 

But most times, the miner could not find a horse 
to buy. Then, he packed his blanket and tools 
and food on his own back. His blanket and pick 

45 



WILD FLOWERS 



Fig. 10. —Miner’s Lettuce. (Photographed by A. J. Soares.) 





47 


miner’s lettuce 

and frying pan were heavy, so he took light weight 
food. He often carried just flour and salt and 
beans. Then, for weeks at a time, he would have 
“flap-jacks” and “ frijoles ” three meals a day. 
Do you know what they are? How would you 
like to eat them three times a day with nothing 
else? Even if you were living out in the open air 
day and night and working hard, you would get 
tired of them. Would you not? 

Think how glad the miner was to find a bed of 
this fresh lettuce. He used to eat all he could get. 
That is why in California we call this plant 
“Miner’s Lettuce.” 

Sometimes it is called “Indian Lettuce.” That 
shows that the Indians were fond of it. Often, 
they put some lettuce near the hills of the Red Ant. 
The Ants, as they went about their own business, 
crossed back and forth over the lettuce. After 
a while, the Indians would shake them off and 
smack their lips over the lettuce. It tasted sour 
then, like salad does. 

The Indians sometimes cooked the lettuce. 
They filled an Indian basket with water. They 
put a hot rock into the water. When the rock 
was cool enough, they took it out and put another 
hot one in. They kept putting in hot rocks until 
the water boiled. Then, they put in the lettuce 
leaves and cooked them. It tasted something like 
spinach. The Indians knew it would make them 
healthy, just as your Mother knows that spinach 
will make you healthy. 


48 


WILD FLOWERS 


Let us look at the Miner’s Lettuce. Take a 
stalk in your hand. See how tiny the white flowers 
are. If they grew on little stalks near the ground, 
would they catch the eye of the flying insect? 
You can see that they would not. 

Mrs. Miner’s Lettuce, a long long time ago, 
learned that they would not. Even when she 
raised the stem up higher, the bees did not stop 
to look at such tiny flowers. So, she tried a new 
plan to make them look at her. She put two leaves 
high up on the stem and joined them together 
around the stem. She pushed the stem up higher 
than these leaves. Then she sent the flowers 
out on this top stem. They now show out very 
well against the green leaf circle. 

When Mrs. Bee is hurrying through the air, 
her eye is caught by something white on a green 
circle swaying on a slender stem. 

“Buzz! Buzz! What is this? It looks like 
food. I’ll have a try at it.” 

Down she swoops. 

“Buzz! Buzz! It tastes like food.” 

She eats all the sweets in that flower. 

“Buzz! Buzz! How good that is this hot day. 
I must have more of it.” 

She goes from one Miner’s Lettuce flower to 
another and then to another until she can eat no 
more. 

And you know that that is just what Mrs. 
Miner’s Lettuce wants. You know now that when 
Mrs. Bee sipped at one flower, she got pollen from 


miner’s lettuce 


49 


the stamens on her legs. She carried it to the next 
flower. Here the top of the pistil scraped it off 
her legs and sent it down to make the ovules into 
seeds. 

Look for yourself at the Miner’s Lettuce flower. 
How many petals has it? Is the corolla the same 
color in different flowers? Do all the buds on one 
stem bloom out at the same time? How many 
sepals has a flower? Can you count the stamens? 
Have you seen the seeds when they are ripe? They 
are black and shining. 

Some warm afternoon, when you feel lazy—the 
best of us feel lazy some warm afternoons—just 
lie down by a Miner’s Lettuce bed. Fix your eyes 
on a seed-case that is ripe. If you watch closely, 
you will see it curl inward into three parts. Then, 
pop! Out go the little black shining seeds. 
The seed-case throws them out so that they will 
not fall beneath the leaves of its own plant. If 
they fell beneath the plant, they would not get 
sunshine to make them grow. When the seed- 
case throws them out, they have a chance to fall 
upon some bare spot of earth. Then, the dew 
wets them and they get heavy and sink into the 
earth. Soon, the sun calls them, and they send 
out green leaves. 

Do these leaves near the ground look like the 
ones near the flowers? Are the ones near the 
flowers all the same shape? Do they all turn the 
same way? Which leaf is easier to draw, the one at 
the ground or the one in the air? Which tastes 




50 


WILD FLOWERS 


the best? You need not be afraid to eat as many as 
you want. They are not like candy. They will 
help make good blood and good bones. They will 
keep you healthy, to-day, just as they kept the 
miners healthy in 1849. 

Lettuce for Health! 


XI 

WILD PORTULACA 


A rich prize for the children 
With their a pin-a-pop-a-show.” 

A picnic for the wild dove 
Who reflects your crimson glow. 

Miner’s Lettuce has a pretty sister, who will 
also help you at your parties. At first look, 
you would not think they were sisters, but they 
are. 

Some people call Wild Portulaca “Red Maids” 
because she wears such a beautiful red dress, 
but I think more people know her by the name 
I use. You have seen her coming up along the 
roadside, or in a field where the grass is not high. 
The little stems spread out and send up many 
flowers, so that a Portulaca bed is very beautiful 
when the sun shines on it. 

Portulaca wears a beautiful rose-purple corolla. 
It is much larger than the tiny white one of Miner’s 
Lettuce. Its petals are so velvety that they throw 
back the sun’s light straight into Mrs. Bug’s 
eye. They do not need a circle of green for a 
background. 

Portulaca has a lighter center where she has 
set some dishes of honey. She has placed dark 
little honey paths leading down to the party. 
Mrs. Bug likes the smell of the honey and soon 

51 


52 


i 


WILD FLOWERS 



Fig, 11. —Wild Portulaca. (Photographed by A. J. Soares .) 






WILD PORTULACA 


53 


finds the dishes of it. Then, she likes the taste 

and decides to go to other Portulacas for more 
of the same kind. 

The anthers of Portulaca are bursting with 
a rich orange pollen. As soon as Mrs. Bug touches 
the stamens, the anthers pour out their rich store. 
Mrs. Bug is nicely powdered. She carries this 
pollen to the next Portulaca she visits, and there 
the stigma gets it down to the ovules. Then, 
soon new seed is ripening. 

If she wishes Portulaca honey, Mrs. Bug has to 
work while the sun is shining brightly. Portulaca 
is very much afraid of dark and cold. As soon 
as the sun passes from her, no matter how warm 
the air is, she draws up her velvety petals close 
around her lovely anthers. 

Are the petals as velvety on the outside as on 
the inside? Why? Count the petals. Are there 
the same number as in Miner’s Lettuce? See how 
they fold around each other. When they are open, 
do they form the same shaped corolla as Miner’s 
Lettuce wears? 

Look at the calyx. See the shape of its two 
sepals. Each looks like the keel of a boat. That 
is a fine shape for a calyx. The two sepals can 
fold over the corolla and keep it safe. You can 
float these sepals for fairy boats, and no water 
will soak in. 

Look at the leaves. You see they are scattered 
up the stem as well as bunched at the bottom. 
Which leaves are the thickest, those of Portulaca 


54 


WILD FLOWERS 


or those of Miner’s Lettuce? Which is easiest 
to draw? Which tastes the best to you? 

The seeds are good to eat, too. Do you like 
them? The wild dove just dotes on them. Often 
you see flocks of doves picnicking on a Portulaca 
bed. They have a very merry time. They eat 
so fast they forget to mourn. If you sit very 
still, they will go on with their frolic, stepping 
daintily and turning their heads to the side as 
they snap up the shining seeds. If you move, 
they will get frightened and fly away. You 
can talk gently. That will not frighten them. 
Wild birds do not seem to mind talking. They 
do mind a move of the arm or the leg or the body. 

So, if you wish to watch the wild doves on a 
picnic, sit down near a Portulaca bed and keep 
still. See how gracefully the dove holds her neck 
as she swallows. On her neck, the feathers have 
caught some of the same beautiful rose-purple that 
Portulaca has used in her corolla. Perhaps the 
Dove’s feathers have that shade from eating 
Portulaca seeds. 

Take some of the seeds in your hand. See how 
black and shiny they are. See that they curve out 
on both sides. If two seeds start rolling down hill, 
which will go the farthest, a flat seed or a rounded 
seed? Portulaca thinks a rounded seed will get 
farthest from the mother plant and so she makes 
her seeds that shape. Then, when the seed-case 
throws it out, it may roll away to a new piece of 
ground. 


WILD PORTULACA 


55 


Do children to-day make “Pin-a-Pop-a-Shows.” 
When I was a little girl, we used to take the petals 
of flowers and arrange them in a pretty design on 
the back of a card board box. Then we would 
paste them on so that they could not fall off. Then 
we cut a hole in a piece of paper and stuck it on the 
front of the box. Then, we went around the 
school yard calling, “Who wants to see a ‘Pin-a- 
Pop-a-Show.’ ” Everybody who had a pin wanted 
to see and they got long peeps for a pin. I do not 
remember what we did with all the pins we got. 

I do remember that I used to make my shows out 
of Portulaca petals. They were so rich looking, 
like my Grandma’s best dress. And then some of 
the petals got crushed as I worked, and my fingers 
got all rosy with the lovely dye. 0, the joy of 
those rose colored fingers! 

I am ashamed to tell you that I was a big girl 
before I knew that the right name of the Show was 
“Pin-a-Pop-a-Show.” My ear caught the name 
when I was very little, as “ Pinny Poppy Show,” 
and that is the way I used to call it out for some 
years. I thought it had something to do with 
Poppies and Pins, but I used any flowers I thought 
pretty. 

Of course, you children to-day would not be so 
careless. You listen carefully to new words, do 
you not? You have to, if you wish to get them 
right. Grown-up persons have such a bad habit 
of talking too fast, and some of their words just 
slip past a little child’s ears. If your ear gets a 


56 


WILD FLOWERS 


word wrong once, you have some trouble teaching 
it to know it right. Dear Me, if we were just 
like the birds and knew all our words from the 
beginning, wouldn’t it be easy? 

But, then if we were birds, we could not make 
“Pin-a-Pop-a-Shows,” and that would be a loss. 
It is worth your while to make some. Take any 
flower you like, a Portulaca, a Poppy, or a Baby- 
Blue-Eyes. Try the petals on a piece of paper in 
all sorts of ways. When you get a design that 
you like, paste it. These designs will teach you 
how to plan wall paper or carpets, or cotton 
materials for your shirts or dresses, or covers for 
your books. Look around your home and see how 
many things have designs on them. Look at the 
magazine covers. Many men and women earn a 
good living making designs. 

So, you can practice designing with Portulaca 
petals. When you get a charming design, make 
it into a “Pin-a-Pop-a-Show,” and go around 
giving your classmates the pleasure of seeing it. 
Call loudly and clearly, and charge a pin for a good 
look. 

Good business! Rosy fingers! 


XII 

WHITE FORGET-ME-NOT 


Dear bonny little blossoms 
A-snowing o’er the field, 

The winds waft wide your welcome 
To Folk who wish your yield. 

You all know the wild White Forget-Me-Not. 
I think every child loves it. It looks so sweet and 
clean, shining up from the ground, that you want 
to be just like it. What do you call it? 

The Spanish Californian children used to call it 
nievitas. That means “ little snow flowers.” A 
field of White Forget-Me-Not does look like a field 
of snow. 

Have you ever seen snow? If you have not, 
look at the next field of White Forget-Me-Nots and 
play that they are snow. Though they will look 
like snow, they will not feel like it and they will 
not act like it. Snow is cold. Snow melts when 
the warm sun shines upon it, and soon runs away 
as water. Then there is no snow. 

The White Forget-Me-Nots love the sun. When 
the warm sun shines upon them, they send out more 
and more blossoms. Then, there is a whole field 
of White Forget-Me-Nots and that looks like snow. 

The children in the Sierra Nevada Mountains 
call White Forget-Me-Not “Popcorn.” A field of 
it does look like a field of popcorn, does it not? 

57 


58 


WILD FLOWERS 



Fig. 12.—White Forget-Me-Not. (Photographed by A. J. Soares •) 



WHITE FOR-GET-ME-NOT 


59 


Children often find very good names of their own 
for flowers they love. The children who call 
White Forget-Me-Nots “popcorn/’ eat the flowers 
to get the sweet syrup they hold. 

Mrs. White Forget-Me-Not makes this sweet 
stuff to be eaten, but not by children. No indeed. 
She wants it to be eaten by some creature who can 
help her make good seeds. She makes a great lot 
of it in each flower. The wind carries the fragrance 
of it away from the field. Soon the wind passes a 
bee and it gets a whiff of this sweetness. 

‘ ‘ Buzz-z-zz. 7 7 She nearly falls on her back, she is so 
excited. “That is the sweetest air I have met to¬ 
day. I must follow it up to see what it comes from.” 

She keeps her nose to the wind. Then winging 
fast and singing fast, she soon reaches the field of 
White Forget-Me-Nots. 

“Buzz-z-z-zz.” Her voice sounds happy. “This 
is just where I want to be.” 

Down she flies onto a little White Forget-Me-Not. 
Its feast is soon eaten, and she goes to the next 
flower. From the stamens, she takes some pollen 
and fills her pollen bags. Then, winging fast and 
singing fast, she gets home to her hive. 

“Buzz-z-z-zz,” she calls to all her fellow bees. 
“Come with me! Come with me! The wind led 
me to a heavenly pasture. We can fill our hive in 
one sunshine.” 

“Buzz-z-z-zz! Buzz-z-z-zz,” the fellow bees 
cry. “Lead the way. Lead the way!” Bees 
always believe what a fellow bee says. 


60 


WILD FLOWERS 


And, winging fast and singing fast, hundreds of 
bees soon arrive at White Forget-Me-Not field. 
You’d better not get in their way. They do not 
wish to hurt you, but their work has to be done 
while the sun shines. 

If you interrupt Mrs. Bee’s work, she will buzz 
“Get out of my way! Get out of my way!” 
several times in great excitement. 

If you do not obey quickly, “BUZZ!” comes 
sharply, and you are stung. Then you do get out 
of her way. It is always best to obey Mrs. Bee 
the first time she speaks. 

Mrs. White Forget-Me-Not knows that if her 
flowers bloom a long time, she will have more 
chance of visitors. She does not spread her buds 
out on the stems. Just look at a flower stalk. 
See how it is curved around inward. Only 
the outside buds can receive the sunshine. They 
will bloom first into flowers. It takes sunshine 
to make a pretty flower just as it takes sunshine 
to make a pretty child. 

When the first flowers have been visited by the 
insects, then the stem uncoils a little and lets 
the next buds face the sunshine. Then they bloom 
into flowers and their honey is eaten. Then 
the stem uncoils a little more and lets other buds 
get warmed by the rays of the sun. After a while, 
the very last bud is blossomed. Then, the stem 
is a straight line. If your Father has an old 
watch spring you can play with, put it on the table 


WHITE FOK-GET-ME-NOT 


61 


beside a Forget-Me-Not stalk. Work them both. 
Draw them both. 

Examine the flower yourself. Count the sepals. 
Now, the petals. Now, the stamens. When the 
seeds begin to grow, see how the corolla falls off. 
Forget-Me-Not does not need it any longer. She 
only set it up to catch the eye of the insects. 

You children can find a use for the cast-off 
corollas. String them on a fine thread. There. 
You have a fairy necklace. Perhaps it was 
one like this that the Fairy Godmother hung 
on Cinderella’s neck. But it must have been 
corollas from some other flower, for surely Forget- 
Me-Not would have warned Cinderella that the 
clock was going to strike. 

White Forget-Me-Not does not throw aside 
the calyx with the corolla. She wants it to keep 
the growing seed-case safe. It is not only the 
cold or the wet that might harm the baby seeds. 
Sometimes a caterpillar crawls up a nice little 
green stem. He eats the seeds if he finds them 
soft and easy to get. The White Forget-Me-Not 
has no use for caterpillars. They would never 
help her. So she makes her stems hairy to give 
them a rough road to travel. She makes her 
seeds nutlike. They are not easy on a caterpillar’s 
mouth. Mr. Caterpillar soon lets himself down 
to the ground and seeks an easier meal. 

When Forget-Me-Not’s seeds are ripe, they 
have a rough covering. They can catch on any 
passing surface. Then, they will be carried off 


62 


WILD FLOWERS 


to a new field. Perhaps they will ride off on your 
clothing. You will never feel their weight. You 
might be glad to play horse for Mrs. Forget- 
Me-Not. She will give you much pleasure if 
you watch her and her sisters during the coming 
years. The older you grow the more you can 
learn about her. Perhaps fifty years from now, 
you may know more about her family than any 
one else in the World does. Then, you will 
remember that you started being friends with 
her in this little book. Won’t you? 

Forget me not. 


XIII 

WALL FLOWER 


A perfect posy in your mien, 

A perfect in your acts; 

When you attract by golden preen, 

You always keep your pacts. 

If you wish to study a flower that looks like a 
party and smells like a party, just take a wild Wall 
Flower. Mrs. Bee and all the Bug Brothers know 
it tastes like a party. 

The one I am looking at is a rich golden color. 
Some come a paler gold; some come as light as the 
canary; some come as dark as an orange. They all 
make this wonderful honey. 

The flower has such a strong fragrance that you 
can smell it far away from the flower bed. Yet the 
fragrance is so fresh and clean-smelling that you 
can stand right among the Wall Flowers and draw 
in deep breaths of their sweetness and not grow 
faint. 

If we can smell the honey far away, you may be 
sure Mrs. Bee can smell it still farther. We do 
not have to get our food by smelling for it. So our 
nose is not well trained. 

But Mrs. Bee has no grocery store to buy food 
from. She has to collect food to put in her store, 
the hive. She has to go to the wilds of Nature 

63 


64 


WILD FLOWERS 



Fig. 13.—Wild Wall Flower. (Photographed by A. J. Soares .) 





WALL FLOWER 


65 


to seek food to carry home to the hive. So her 
nose is well trained. 

Imagine her some sunny morning when she got 
up too late and felt a little cross. Nothing suited 
her. She started on her day’s work all grump}^. 
Oh, children, it is a good thing for you that you 
did not meet Mrs. Bee that morning. I tremble 
to think of what might have happened if you had 
got in her way. 

The sunshine warmed her wings. She began 
to feel a little more spry. She moved a tiny bit 
faster. She circled a hill. 

“What!” She held herself still in midair. 
“What is that sweet, sweet smell coming around 
the hill. I must speed to it.” 

Grumpish no longer. Forgotten is her cross¬ 
ness. Off she speeds. If she were an automobile 
on our streets, the Traffic Officer would arrest her. 
But, luckily for Mrs. Bee there are no streets laid 
out yet in the air. 

She does not look down at the Buttercup nor at 
the Baby-Blue-Eyes. They can set out dishes of 
good honey. But no party of theirs ever smelled 
so sweet as this feast that is ahead of her. 

Over the wild Wall Flower bed she pauses. 
It seems too good to be true. A wonderful color 
with a wonderful smell. Down she slides on a 
sunbeam and slips into the nearest blossom. 

“Oo-oo-oo.” Just listen to her joy. The 
taste is wonderful, too, and there is lots of it 
to taste. 


GG 


WILD FLOWERS 


Look at the Wall Flower and see how beautiful 
it is. The golden corolla is made up of four petals. 
They are set to make a cross. They are not satiny 
like the four petals of Poppy. They look like 
soft velvet. See the little honey paths leading 
down to their party dishes. Pull out a petal. See 
how it narrows into a claw to fit into the calyx. 
Is the claw as velvety as is the blade that spreads 
out above? Are the honey bowls on the petals? 

Why, where are they? Look. They are as easy 

« 

for you to find as for Mrs. Bee. 

Look at the calyx. It has four sepals. See that 
all four of them are not the same shape. Two of 
them swell out at the bottom. That makes a 
good cup to hold the flower in. Do the sepals 
fall off as early as do those of Poppy and 
Cream-Cup? 

Now count the stamens. “Six.” Yes, that is 
right. Have any of the other flowers you have 
studied had six stamens? There is something- 
odd about the stamens of wild Wall Flower and all 
the members of her family. They all have six 
stamens. All the stamens are not the same 
length. Most flowers have all their stamens the 
same length. Wall Flower has four long stamens 
and two short ones. All her family has. 

Her family name is no harder for you than 
automobile. You do not think that a hard word 
do you? Because her family arranged their four 
petals in the shape of a cross, they are called 
“ Cruciferae ” That means “ cross bearing,” 


WALL FLOWER 


G7 


A good reason for knowing this name is so many 
of this family live right around you. You learn 
the family names of your boy and girl playmates, 
do you not? You learn it whether it is as easy as 
Smith or as long as Shaughnessy. No boy or 
girl’s name is too hard for you to learn. So, let’s 
learn the family name u Cruciferae” and see which 
members of the family live near us. 

We can tell them by their cross. Some have a 
white cross. The lovely Spring Blossom is one. 
It comes out very early after the rains. First it 
hides under the bushes, as if it were afraid. Then, 
it comes right out on the open hillside and grows 
stronger. The Water Cress is white, and the 
Shepherd’s Purse and the Pepper Grass. The 
Mustard is yellow. The Radish is pink. 

Those two good vegetables that help make you 
strong, the Cabbage and the Cauliflower, belong to 
the family. Just look around on your way home 
from school. If you live in the country, you will 
find many different ones. If you are in the city, 
some are sure to have a setting in the edge of the 
sidewalks. 

Some grow tall; some will be small. You will 
know them by the cross of their corolla. All will 
have the six stamens, four long and two short. 
In each, you will find dishes of honey. None will 
have quite so much honey as wild Wall Flower, but 
all will have enough to get the insects to help them 
make good seeds. 


G8 


WILD FLOWERS 


When it comes to their seed-cases, now there is 
joy for the child. There are so many shapes. 
Wall Flower has a four sided pod. The Radish 
has her pod swelled out every now and then so 
that it looks like a string of beads. The Shepherd’s 
Purse has heart-shaped cases, like the purses the 
Shepherds used to carry a long time ago. All the 
seed-cases are good to eat. They are a little 
peppery, but they will not make you sick. 

A Cruciferae , the Black Mustard, takes a part in 
the story of California. When the first Spaniards 
came, there were no roads in the State. There 
were not even trails. They built the first Mission 
at San Diego. Then, they came north to build one 
at Monterey. They did not wish to lose their 
way in going from one Mission to another. They 
scattered the seeds of the Black Mustard as they 
walked. 

As soon as the rain came, these seeds grew. 
They grew into tall plants. After that, the 
Spaniards could find their way by the line of the 
Mustard plant. It grew so tall that the larks 
used to love to sit in its branches. They sang 
lovely songs as they swung among the yellow 
flowers. 

It grew so tall that the first American settlers 
used its branches to build their first sheds and 
chicken houses. It served all right, while they 
took time to make adobe or to cut trees into lumber 
to make more lasting buildings. Is there any near 
you tall enough to make a play house? 


WALL FLOWER 


69 


W1 iether there is any Black Mustard near you or 
not, there must be a wild Wall Flower. It grows 
all through the State. It is just as fragrant at the 
ocean’s shore as it is near the tops of the Sierras. 
It just glows with delight in giving sweetness to the 
world, and we delight in its sweetness as much as do 
our friends, the Bees. 

“ Sweets to the sweet.” 


XIV 

SHOOTING STAR 


Twinkle, twinkle, Shooting Star 
We don’t wonder what you are. 

On the Earth, your gay clad form 
Captures every heart by storm. 

One of the gayest robed of our Spring flowers is 
the Shooting Star. I am sure you all love it 
because every one I know, whether boy or girl, 
man or woman, loves it. On its side, it seems to 
love California for it grows from the South to the 
North and from the Pacific to the heights of the 
Sierras. Sometimes it is small; sometimes large; 
sometimes pale; sometimes ruddy; but always it is 
lovely. 

The whole plant works to make the beautiful 
flower. You know the clump of thick green leaves 
that cling close to the ground. They come out so 
early in the Spring that Shooting Star has to pre¬ 
pare them against the biting nips of Jack Frost. 
She makes them hug Mother Earth and also cling 
close together. She makes them thick all through. 
She does not cut them into parts as Buttercup does 
her leaves. All this so that they will be warm in 
the cold Spring winds and can help raise a lovely 
blossom head. Their upper side is shining to 
catch the eye of passing insects, but their lower 
side is covered over for warmth. 

70 


SHOOTING STAR 


71 



Fig. 14.—Shooting Star. (Photographed by A. J. Soares .) 







72 


WILD FLOWERS 


Up from the center of this clump of leaves arises 
a strong thick round stem with no branches. 
When it reaches the point where the flower stalks 
will start ; it swells out all around. From this 
swelled point, many little stalks climb up higher. 
Each bears a flower bud. 

Shooting Star must have had an Artist Fairy 
Godmother. No common, ordinary, every day 
Fairy Godmother could think of such a lovely 
flower to wish on her. You see the five petals are 
joined together in front into a short tube and then 
are flung back in graceful banners. The tube is 
colored a dark maroon, with bands of yellow and 
white to enliven it. The banners are rose-pink 
like the soft clouds in the eastern sky at dawn. 

The stamens are made to add to the beauty as 
well as to do their life work. Their stems are 
short and fixed inside the corolla tube; but the 
anthers are long and form a ring outside the tube’s 
top. They are colored a dark violet, and they 
shine like velvet against the yellow and white 
circles on the petals. Through this anther ring, 
the pistil extends like a beak. 

While the petals bloom, the five sepals curve 
backward to give them all the room. When the 
seeds are growing and the petals fading, the calyx 
straightens itself up around the seed-case. 

All the Shooting Stars at the top of the stem do 
not bloom out at once. Indeed, several weeks pass 
from when the first beautiful corolla flings its 
banners wide until the last one drops off its ripen- 


SHOOTING STAR 


73 


ing seed-case. Shooting Star has a very good 
reason for this. It is the same reason she has for 
grouping her flowers together at the top of her stem. 

She raises her stem above her leaves so as to be 
easily seen. She sends out a group of flowers 
together so as to make a greater mass of color. 
She has the flowers bloom at different times so that 
the color will be waving longer. All her plans are 
made to catch the insects’ eyes. She must interest 
them through their eyes. She has not much honey 
to offer them and little fragrance to attract them. 
She can give them plenty of rich pollen if they like 
that. But the first thing to do is to attract them 
to the pollen. 

The insects do see the bright corolla. They do 
come buzzing along. They are not so excited 
as when they received the Wall Flower’s invitation, 
but still they do come. When they push their 
heads into the anther ring, they get the pollen all 
over them. Then, when they visit the next Shoot¬ 
ing Star, the long bill of the pistil touches their 
head and takes off the pollen. 

Shooting Star is careful of her pollen. Her 
anthers hold it fast until something shakes them. 
If no insect comes before the flower grows old, 
then the pistil beak turns the stigma up, and 
the anthers let the pollen fall upon it and the 
ovules receive it. 

Have you noticed the little stalks that hold the 
flowers? When they hold a bud, they stand up 
straight to let it get the sunshine. When the 


74 


WILD FLOWERS 


corolla opens, they curve downward so as to protect 
the pollen from the wind. When the seed is formed, 
they straighten up again, holding the seed-case 
to the sun. Do you know how this seed-case 
opens and lets out the seeds. Watch it. 

Did you ever dig up a Shooting Star and look at 
its root? If you plant one in your garden, you 
may have a new Shooting Star there next year. 
Try the seeds too. Take a ripe seed-case and 
scatter the seeds without touching them. Scatter 
them in some warm spot where the wind will not 
come. They know how to get underground them¬ 
selves. Perhaps they will grow. Perhaps they 
will not. Noth ing is lost by trying. 

In Southern Europe, the pigs are fond of the root 
of Shooting Star. They dig it up and gobble it 
down greedily. So, in those countries, the common 
name of this lovely flower is “ Sow-Bread.” Not a 
pretty name, is it? What do you call the flower? 
Some children call it “Mosquito Bill” and some 
“ Roosters.” Both these names come from the 
shape of the pistil. I have heard that some call it 
“Mad Violet,” though why I do not understand. 
It does not look like a violet nor does it seem at all 
angry. It never acts wildly, but just grows quietly, 
crouched near the ground. 

I like best the commonest name, “ Shooting 
Star.” That gives the thought that the flowers’ 
loveliness is not all of the earth. They have some of 
the calm beautiful spirit of the Stars. People who 
watch the Stars lead lovelier lives than those who 


SHOOTING STAR 


75 


watch only the head lights of automobiles. The 
Stars make us quieter. They teach us not to rush. 
They teach us it is better to take time and do our 
work well. 

Let’s watch the Stars. 


XV 

TRILLIUM 


One, two, three, 

One, two, three, 

Trillium, Trillium, 

One, two, three. 

One of our first flowers to come out in the Spring 
is the Trillium or Wake-Robin. It was called 
the Wake-Robin in the East because soon after 
it blossoms there, the robin begins to sing. That 
is a topsy-turvy idea, is it not? The pretty 
flower is the alarm clock to call Robin to sing, 
instead of Robin being the alarm clock to awaken 
the flower. 

In California, we usually call it Trillium. That 
is the name Botanists gave it long ago. It is 
easy to see why. It means that its parts are in 
“ threes.” 

You can easily see it for yourself. There are 
three green leaves at a top of a stem. From their 
center rises the flower stalk. There are three 
green sepals and three light petals. There are six 
stamens. The three stigmas curve back as the 
petals do. You see “Trillium” is a very good 
name for it. You can call it Wake-Robin if you 
like that name better. It is really a pretty name 
and sounds like Spring time. 

76 


TRILLIUM 


77 



Fig. L5.—Trillium. (Photographed by A. J. Soares.) 



78 


WILD FLOWERS 


Wake-Robin does not come out in the sunny 
places as does Buttercup. She likes best the 
slopes near a creek, where there are always bushes 
to give her shade. Do you think she wishes insects 
to help her? 

Look at the three green leaves. See how they 
round in to the center where they join the stalk. 
Notice the five deep lines all running down to 
that center. These deep lines in the leaf are 
called “nerves? 7 

If Mrs. Insect happens to land on one of these 
curves, she will walk on the nerve right down 
to the center. When she gets there, she will 
see the flower standing up higher. All insects 
are curious, just as boys and girls are. If they 
were not curious, they would never learn anything 
new. So, this insect will crawl up the stalk to 
look into that flower. 

The three sepals spread out and the three 
petals stand up. Between them there is a little 
space. This is an easy open door for Mrs. Insect 
to crawl through, if she has come from below. 

If Mrs. Insect comes through the air and alights 
on a petal, she finds little paths leading downward. 
Of course, she follows one and when she is down 
low, she is sure to strike the bottom of the stamen. 
The anther opens and the pollen falls over her. 
The anthers are full of a very rich pollen. Many 
insects like to visit Wake-Robin just to eat the 
pollen and to carry it home. They go to several 
flowers as they collect. The stigmas take the 


TRILLIUM 


79 


pollen that is on their bodies and send it to the 
ovules. 

After her seed is formed, Wake-Robin changes 
her dress to a darker one. That is a sign to the 
insects that her pollen is all gone. They will 
be wasting their time if they come to her. No 
insect ever has any time to waste. You have 
watched them, have you not? They hurry along 
always with their minds set on just what they are 
doing. If you put a piece of grass in their 
way, they just walk around it and go to their 
business. So, when they see that Wake-Robin 
wears a dark gown, they leave her alone. 

If you dig down under the stem, you will find 
a thick root. If you leave this alone, the Wake- 
Robin will rise up again next year. If you are 
fond of Wake-Robin, you can dig up the root 
carefully and put it in a paper with some of its 
own earth around it. Then plant it in a shady 
spot in your garden. Next year you will have 
a Wake-Robin as good as the ones that bloom 
in the woods. If you leave the root in the ground 
unharmed for several years, you will have a bed 
of Wake-Robins. 

If you want a beautiful wild flower garden in the 
Spring, get some roots of Wake-Robin’s tall sister, 
whom we always call Trillium. She is so beauti¬ 
ful that many people in the East and in Europe 
have her in their gardens. Isn’t it funny? We 
send to Europe for roots of the Tulip for our 
gardens and do not notice the Trillium growing 


80 


WILD FLOWERS 


in the next field. Europe sends to us for roots of 
our Trillium and other wild flowers. They use 
Tulips, too, but they prize highly some of our 
Native flowers. 

This Trillium is very handsome. Her petals are 
long and waxy. They are wonderful colors— 
white and cream; from palest pink through to 
darkest red; from lemon color to orange; from sand 
color to dark brown. 

Her green leaves are wonderful too. They are 
sprinkled with dark spots, of all sorts of shapes. 
Some look like strange writings. If you can read 
the Fairies’ alphabet, perhaps you will find a letter 
just for you on the Trillium leaf. 

This Trillium sends out a message to the insects. 
It is not so sweet as that of Wall Flower, nor as 
strong. It smells like lemon juice mixed with 
strange spices. The insects fall in love with the 
fragrance and come rushing to find out what it is. 
Then they find the pollen. As they feast upon it, 
they also help Mrs. Trillium by carrying some of 
it to her neighboring blossom. Then good seed is 
formed and sent out to form new plants. 

Underground, the roots are also forming new 
plants. We call these kind of roots “Bulbs.” 
You have seen the bulb of the Chinese Lily which 
your Mother started in a bowl of water. You saw 
the tiny roots go out in the water and the stem with 
leaves and flowers rise up. That is the way all 
bulbs act. Some of our most beautiful wild 
flowers come from bulbs. Some gardeners make a 



TRILLIUM 


81 


business of collecting them and shipping them all 
over the World. 

Some of you boys and girls might plan right now 
to go into the California Bulb business when you 
are grown up. Ask your Mother how much she 
paid for those Tulip bulbs last year. There is 
good money in raising bulbs for the market. There 
is pleasure in it too. The work is out of doors. 
You learn about the soil, the sun, and the shade 
each plant wants to make it healthy. You learn 
which insects are its friends and which insects are 
its foes. You find out something interesting 
every day. 

If you don’t wish to be a “ Doctor, Lawyer, Indian 
Chief,” just think of making a business of our 
native plants. Think of the seeds and bulbs you 
can sell. “John Brown, Grower of California 
Wild Flowers.” Wouldn’t that make a fine sign 
over a store? 

Many seeds! Many sales! 


XVI 

IRIS 


Glorious child of Sun and Rain, 

Rising brave and beautiful 

When they command, tho’ wild winds strain— 

Teach me to be dutiful. 

One of the early Spring flowers that is an old 
friend of yours is the Iris. Perhaps you call her 
the “Flag,” but as Iris, she is known to all the 
World. 

Do you know why? Did you ever hear anything 
else called “Iris”? 

Yes, Benjamin. You have heard something 
else called “Iris.” What is it? 

0 

“The iris of your eye.” 

Why, that is good Benjamin, although it is not 
what I was thinking of. What is the iris of your 
eye? 

“The colored part.” 

Yes, it is the iris that is blue in your eye, 
Benjamin. The iris in yours, Howard, is brown. 
In your eye, Anna, the iris is grey. The iris is 
always colored, but it is not always the same color. 
The word “Iris” always makes us think of color. 
Let us see if you can find out what “Iris” I was 
thinking of. After a rain, did you ever see bright 
colors in the-sky? 


82 


IRIS 


83 



Fig. 16.—Iris. (Photographed by A. J. Soares.) 






84 


WILD FLOWERS 


Yes, of course you did. “A rainbow,” you say. 
That is what I was thinking of. “Iris” is only 

another name for rainbow. 

* 

If you look at the beautiful Iris blossom, you 
will see that it shines with every color of the rain¬ 
bow. Its name brings back a story our people 
have known since the beginning of time. 

The story goes something like this: “Once, 
when the World was young, there was a long, 
long rain. For days and nights, and days and 
nights, it rained. Never did the sun come out. 
The birds and the bugs and the beasts all 
shivered and hid themselves. They tried to keep 
dry and warm. The plant seeds all cuddled under 
ground. No plant wanted to start growing up into 
that wet World. Their leaves and stems would 
be beaten down before they could send out their 
beautiful flowers. 

One plant grew weary of the dark underground. 
She sent up some straight pointed leaves. When 
the rain hit them, it simply rolled down to the 
ground and did not hurt them. Then she sent up a 
pointed flowerbud, wrapped in thin green leaves. 
The raindrops that struck this green bundle tumbled 
head over heels down to the earth. No rain got 
inside the green wrapping to hurt the flower. 

Suddenly out came the Sun, more brilliant than 
ever for having been so long hidden by the clouds. 
Some of its rays played hide and seek with the 
raindrops. Together they made a beautiful 
colored arch across the sky. 


ims 


85 


The flower bud near the ground felt the warmth 
of the Sun. It hurried to throw off the green 
wrapping. It opened itself to the sky. There, 
just above it was the arch of the beautiful rainbow. 
The flower stopped growing. It just gazed in 
admiration. The lovely colors were impressed 
upon its heart, and to this very day it still shows 
them. 


So when people were naming the flowers, they 
said, ‘This beautiful flower has all the colors of 
Iris. We shall call her ‘Iris’ and she will 
brighten our earth just as Iris brightens the 
heavens.’ ” 

Is it not a pretty story? You know if we look 
at a beautiful thing, our face will shine with the 
thought of beauty. That is why it is a good thing 
for us to look at flowers and sunsets and pictures. 
The more beauty we admire the more beauty will 
be in our thoughts. 

Iris to-day has the same way of growing that 
she had a long, long time ago. You have seen 
her dark leaves come up during the early rains. 
If you live near San Francisco, you see her leaves 
making little dark green islands in the sea of pale 
grass that covers those hills. You know what 
“islands” are, do you not? 

Look at the Iris leaf. It is shaped like a sword. 
It is long and narrow and comes to a point. It 
cuts its way through the ground. It is smooth 
and stands up straight. All the veins run up and 
down. Any rain drops that fall on it find nothing 


86 


WILD FLOWERS 


to hold on to, as they do on a geranium leaf. They 
just slip right down to the ground as if the leaf 
were a toboggan slide. 

They have to fall outside the plant too. See how 
the Iris leaves fold over each other and then over 
the stem. It would take a strong raindrop indeed 
to force its way between them and to get to the 
flower stalk. 

Take a leaf off the stem and see its light lining. 
Is it not like the finest oiled silk? Finer than any 
oiled paper your Mother takes to wrap your lunch 
in. 

Look at the green covering of the flower bud. 
See, it is lined with this same white oiled silk, of 
an even finer grade. Notice that one of these 
green overcoats is around the flower stalk where it 
leaves the stem and a thinner overcoat is around 
each flower bud. Iris is taking no chances of 
letting wet in to harm her seed-making parts. 

Try to pull up some leaves. Can you do it? 
Iris makes her parts strong so that the cold of 
winter cannot hurt them. If you dig down, 
you will find the root a good storehouse of food for 
young plants. You can transplant it to your 
own garden. Perhaps you have some of its culti¬ 
vated sisters there now. 

Take a flower stalk between your fingers. Run 
your fingers around it. How smooth it feels. 
There is not the tiniest angle to it. Nor any 
channel. Nor any hairs. Feel how it turns in 
your fingers. It can turn any way without break- 


IRIS 


87 


ing. Just after dawn, it bows “Good Morning” 
to the newly risen Sun in the East. In the evening 
it bows “Good Night” to old Father Sol in the 
West. What pretty manners! 

Let’s copy it. Let’s bow, “Good Morning!” 
“Good Night!” 


XVII 

IRIS, AGAIN 


Glorious child of Rain and Sun, 

Working, tho’ illustrious, 

Until your seeds new fields have won— 

Would I were industrious. 

Take an Iris blossom. Just look at it a while 
before you think of its parts. How rich its coloring 
is. See how it shines as if some diamond dust was 
worked into its material. How graceful is its 
form. You see the flower does not grow in straight 
and narrow lines as its leaves do. It copies the 
curves of the Iris in the sky, just as it copies her 
lovely colors. 

Now look at Iris closely. You count nine 
bright parts. Each looks like a petal. There is 
no sign of a green calyx such as Baby-Blue-Eyes 
wears all her life and Poppy pushes off when she 
greets the sun. There does not seem to be any 
stamens. There does not seem to be any pistil. 

Why, what an odd flower Iris is! She has 
caught the curves and the colors of the rainbow 
and has brought them down to earth. Have they 
given her some magic power? We know that 
there is “a pot of fairy gold” hidden in the ground 
at the rainbow’s end. Can it be that Iris has a 
fairy wand? Can she just wave about and form 
her seeds with petals alone? A glance at the 

88 


IRIS, AGAIN 


89 



Fig. 17.—Little Iris. (Photographed by A. J. Soares.) 






90 


WILD FLOWERS 


lovely flower makes you ready to believe that that 
is true. Nothing but petals in sight. 

However, you children know by this time that 
petals can not make seeds. No matter how beauti¬ 
ful they are, their work is not the real seed-making. 
You know it takes stamens and pistils to make 
seeds. You have seen that Iris does make a strong 
seed-case, so now look carefully at her parts. 

I must tell you that sometimes a calyx is not 
green. If a flower loves other colors, it sometimes 
dyes its calyx different. But the calyx is always 
the outside ring of the flower parts. 

Those three large parts of the Iris form the outside 
ring. They are the sepals. They are the most 
beautifully colored. They curve back gracefully. 
They have lovely gold and purple lines on them. 

The next three parts are the petals. They are 
the ones that stand up straight inside the calyx and 
then curve inward toward the center. You see 
they are not so beautifully marked as are the sepals. 
They do not need to be, as the sepals do their work. 

The three inner parts that curve first outward 
and then toward the center are the three stigmas 
of the pistil. Just compare them with the two 
little round black stigmas that Baby-Blue-Eyes 
carries. They are so much more beautiful that 
we mistook them for petals. See how each stigma 
divides into two parts at the top, just before it 
takes the inward curve. 

Look at the outside of the stigma. Just below 
where it divides you see a little light-colored shelf. 


IRIS, AGAIN 91 

When you have found that shelf, you have found 
the stamen. 

My! You give a sigh of relief, don't you? It 
did seem that the stamens were missing. You 
expected to find them standing up just inside the 
corolla. You see they are really in a ring outside 
the pistil. They are joined to the bottom of the 
sepals. The stigma curves over like a nice roof, 
so that the stamen just curves itself along the 
stigma's back. The anther is turned to the outside 
so that it can throw the pollen outward. 

The sepal has all those gay paths to lead down 
to the little dishes of honey at its base. You can 
see how the honey is kept safe from the rain. 

Mrs. Big Ant lands on a sepal. She knows 
that such gay paths must lead to a fine party. 
She rushes down the nearest one. As she passes 
the shelf of the stigma, she knocks against it. 
If she is visiting Iris for the first time, nothing 
happens there. 

When she reaches the honey bowl, its contents 
are so good that she forgets her table manners. 
She grabs hold of the dish and fairly gobbles 
down the contents. Fie, Fie, Mrs. Big Ant! 
That is a rude way to eat. 

But in eating so rudely, she helps Iris. She 
shakes the stamen that rises up from the sepal 
on which she is standing. Pop! The anther 
opens at each side and lets fall a shower of light- 
colored pollen.. The anther is so large that-you 
can open one yourself, if you wish to see how it 


92 


WILD FLOWERS 


works. Try tickling 
a stiff blade of grass. 


the base of the sepal with 


When Mrs. Big Ant enters the next Iris, she 
is not in quite such a rush. She strolls along a 
honey path. But her head and her back knocks 
against the shelf of the stigma and now she has some¬ 
thing to leave on it. That sticky underside of the 
stigma’s shelf brushes up the dust off Big Ant’s 
body quicker than you can wink an eye. Then, 
the stigma sends the pollen down to the seed-case 
where the ovules are waiting to be made into 
seeds. If you take a flower to pieces carefully, 
you will see that the stigmas rise up from the seed- 


case below. 


Mrs. Big Ant is not interested in the pollen 
or seed-making. She shakes herself free from 
the sticky stigma and goes down to the dish of 
honey. Let us hope she eats more tidily now. 
She cannot be so hungry as when she entered the 
first Iris. No matter how gently she sips, she 
is sure to shake the stamen. Then she will receive 
the shower of pollen and carry it to the next 
Iris. 

You can see that a small insect can pass in 
between the sepals and dine without ever touching 
a stamen. That is why Iris makes so much 
pollen. She can feed many guests. If some 
are mere robbers and will take their food without 
paying for it, it does not worry her. She just 
keeps on being beautiful and generous. In time, 
some large honest bugs are sure to come along, 


IllIS, AGAIN 


93 


and she is well repaid for setting the delicate 
table. 

3 t i^i lv Iris can make seeds if the insects 
do not help her? 

Iris does not bloom as long as does Buttercup. 
She is willing to pass quickly, just as does the 
Iris of the sky. As soon as her stigma has received 
pollen, she curls up her beautiful parts. Then 
all her strength goes to her seed-case and its 
contents. 

Look at the seed-case. It is an easy one to 
study. How many corners has it? Is it the same 
width along all its length? Cut one across. 
See the three cells running from bottom to top. 
See how there are two sets of little flat seeds 
extending up and down in each cell. Have you 
noticed what the seed-case does when the seeds 
are ripe? 

You will always find a pleasure in studying 
the Iris. Every part is interesting, her store¬ 
house roots, her sword-like leaves, her lovely 
blossoms. People always have loved her. France 
has her for its National Flower, just as we in Cali¬ 
fornia have the California Poppy for our State 
Flower. 

Artists have loved to draw designs from its 
flower, its leaf, its seed-case. Ask your Mother 
if she has a tablecloth with a design made from 
the Iris on it. Ask her if she has a “Fleur de Lis“ 
tablecloth. That is the French word for “Iris.” 
When we go in a store to buy a tablecloth, we 


94 


WILD FLOWERS 


do not say, “ Please show me an Iris pattern. ” 
We say “ Please show me a Fleur de Lis pattern.” 

The Fleur de Lis is all around you. Look at the 
corner of your handkerchief. Look at Eleanor’s 
silver pin. Look at Lloyd’s necktie. 

Draw some yourself. Copy some of these 
designs the artists have made for us. Then, 
take a stalk of our California Iris. Draw the 
leaf. That’s easy. Make all the veins ;go the 
same way. Draw a bud. That’s easy. Now, 
draw a seed-case whole. That’s easy. Cut a 
seed-case across and draw the three cells and the 
little seeds. That’s easy, too. Now, draw a 
flower. That’s not so easy, is it? 

But keep looking at it and keep drawing what 
you see. It will not look like a rose, will it? It 
will not look like a daisy. It will not look like 
any flower but the Iris. So keep on looking closely 
and keep on drawing what you see and some 
day you will make a perfect Iris. Then, you 
will be a good artist. 

Good Eye! Trained Hand! 


XVIII 

BLUE-EYED GRASS 


“Ride a Cock-Horse/’ 

Our heads held high, 

Running our course 
Till our seeds fly. 

Iris has a little sister whom you all know. At 
first glance, you might not think she was of the 
same family. As you grow in years and in the 
study of plants, you will see that she is. 

Out on sunny slopes early in the year, you often 
see masses of blue stars dotting the grass tops. 
“Blue-Eyed Grass” we call these plants because 
their leaves seem so grass-like. 

Now that Iris has taught you that a calyx need 
not be green, you can easily pick out the parts of 
Blue-Eyed Grass. She has not such a graceful 
form as Iris, and has different shaped sepals, 
petals, stamens, and stigmas. Indeed, she seems 
to like a simple form. She makes her calyx and 
corolla nearly exactly alike. 

You see six blue or purple rays going out from 
the center, all looking alike. They all look like 
• petals. Three are really sepals. 

Mrs. Blue-Eyed Grass sometimes makes the 
sepals a little wider than the petals, but not much. 
She always spreads out the six parts the same 

95 


96 


WILD FLOWERS 



Fig. 18.—Blue-Eyed Grass. (Photographed by A. J. Soasre .) 





BLUE-EYED GRASS 


97 


distance. Then she adds a point or so to their 
edges as if she wanted them to stretch out still 
farther. She puts the same yellow dash down 
their center. She gives them the same kind of 
honey paths. 

She arranges her stamens in full view. Your 
heart does not sink for fear they are not there, as it 
did when you looked for the stamens in Iris. 
How -ever, Mrs. Blue-Eyed Grass wanted a little 
change from the usual stamens. She broadened 
out her stems and joined them into a little tube. 
The three small anthers are hung on top of this 
tube. 

The pistil comes up through the stamen tube. 
It stands up in plain sight. Its knobby stigma 
does not look anything like the beautiful one 
of the Iris. 

You can easily see how Blue-Eyed Grass gets 
help in her seed-making. Little Miss Ant crawls 
up the grass-like stem until she lands on a flower. 
A sepal or a petal seems a broad platform to her 
after her climb up the narrow roadway. She does 
not stop to look at the view. Her nose tells her 
something good is in the pantry. The yellow 
center tells her eye where that pantry is. Down 
the honey path she goes. 0, joy! Her nose and 
her eye have led her aright. 

The pantry is narrow, even for little Miss Ant. 
Though she be very orderly in her dining, she is 
sure to touch the stamen tube. Then, you know 
what happens. 


98 


WILD FLOWERS 


Yes. The anthers open and pour the pollen 
over her. Then, she goes out to find another 
Blue-Eyed Grass pantry. In getting to it, she 
brushes against the knobby stigma and leaves the 
pollen on it. 

When the stigma receives the pollen and sends 
it down to the seed-case, it rolls back into three 
parts. That shows it does not care to use any 
more pollen. As the seeds ripen, the sepals and 
petals curl themselves up into funny shapes. 
Then, many children call them “ Nigger Babies.’ 7 

The seed-case is not like that of the Iris, nor 
are the seeds the shape of the Iris seeds. Look at 
them for yourself. 

When you notice the leaves, you see that they 
grow as the Iris leaves do. They fold over each 
other and over the stem. I wonder if you would 
like to know what Botanists call this kind of leaf 
growth. I think it is not too hard a word for you. 
Its meaning always makes me smile. They say 
these leaves are “equitant.” That means “ leaves 
riding astraddle,” as you ride a horse. " Did you 
ever ride a horse? If not a real live horse, you 
must have ridden a rocking-horse. At any rate, 
you have ridden a broom handle. You just put 
one leg on one side and one on the other, and off 
you go. That is riding astraddle. You see Blue- 
Eyed Grass leaves and Iris leaves ride the stem this 
way, and so they are “equitant leaves.” Look in 
your home garden and see what other plants have 
their leaves riding horse back. 


BLUE-EYED GRASS 


99 


In the Spanish California days, Pablo and Inez 
used to make a purple ink out of Blue-Eyed Grass. 
They called it a pet name that meant “ little 
letters.” In those days, it was not easy to get 
pens and inks. There were very few stores in the 
state. The children lived on ranches far from the 
stores. Think of the joy of finding in your own 
home field a little plant that would give you a 
fine violet ink. 

Inez would beg her Mama for some of the paper 
that the last sailing vessel had brought from 
Boston. Pablo would whittle off the end of two 
feathers. Then, they would write a letter to 
their cousins, Miguel and Elena, who lived at 
Santa Clara. Very carefully they wrote. Very, 
very carefully. It did not count that a whole 
field of ink did grow one jump over the fence. 
The paper took months to come in a sailing vessel. 
They could have very little of it. 

And what do you think? Miguel and Elena 
wrote back to them in the same kind of violet ink. 

If you, Paul and Agnes, Michael and Ellen, want 
a still stronger ink, take Blue-Eyed Grass’s pretty 
sister, “ Golden-Eyed Grass.” Her stain is even 
deeper purple. As you study her, you see that she 
is very much like Blue-Eyed Grass. Some people 
think her golden star prettier than the blue one. 

You might take the juice of Blue-Eyed Grass 
and that of Golden-Eyed Grass and see which ink 
you prefer. 

Write carefully! Don’t soil your clothes! 


XIX 

FRITILLARIA 


We ring, we ring, “Here comes dear Spring. 
Awake ye nymphs and fays, 

Your webs and paints and brushes swing— 
Come, Larks, strike up your lays.” 


How many of you children know the Fritillaria 
or Checkered Lily? It is sometimes called the 
Mission Bells and sometimes the Rice Root. All 
its names fit it well. 

It looks quite different from the bright colored 
flowers we have been studying. Does it not? 
Perhaps you wonder if so dull a dress will attract 
insects. Just kneel down by a Fritillaria for a 
few minutes. See, she has many visitors. When 
you study her, it is easy to tell why. 

After becoming acquainted with Blue-Eyed 
Grass, you know that, in some flowers, the calyx 
and the corolla look alike. This is true in Fritil¬ 
laria. You see a beautifully shaped bell. It has 
six parts, all colored alike. You will find that 
three are joined to the stem a little farther out 
than the others. These are the sepals. 

Both sepals and petals are woven of a thick 
material, quite different from Poppy’s thin satin. 
Fritillaria seems to use this thick material so that 
she can drape each part into graceful curves. She 

100 


FRITILLARIA 


101 



Fig. 19.—Fritillaria. (.Photographed by A. J. Soares .) 



102 


WILD FLOWERS 


just dotes on curves. She does not even hang her 
leaves in straight lines. 

As for her sepals and petals., she compounds her 
curves in them. Each part is arched along its 
long line. It curves its sides toward the center. 
Its edges are wavy all around. You see Fritillaria 
is an artist when it comes to lines. 

She does not seem to care for color. She gives 
her head a toss, and exclaims, “No copying of 
Sun and Sky for me! The colors of Mother Earth 
and her soft Grass are good enough for my gown.” 

But really, she does take care in arranging her 
browns and greens. She mixes them together in 
checks and in spots. Sometimes, she adds purple 
to her dye. Sometimes, she bleaches them out to 
palest green. I really believe, Mrs. Fritillaria, 
that you spend as much strength in getting your 
dress perfect, as Baby-Blue-Eyes does in copying 
the Sky and Clouds, or Poppy in copying the 
glorious Sun. 

Down at the bottom of the bell, Fritillaria puts an 
oblong shaped dish of sweets. It lies open for any 
one to see. Its fragrance floats far on the sunny air. 
You may be sure that Mrs. Ant is not slow to 
accept the kind invitation the Breezes carry to her. 

Inside the bell are the six stamens, each with an 
oblong anther on top. The pistil rises inside their 
ring. Its stigma is divided into three parts, each 
of which curves gracefully outward. 

Even if you happen on Fritillaria when she has 
not visitors, you know how they help her. As they 


FRITILLARIA 


103 


feed at the oblong honey dish, they stumble against 
the stamens. The oblong anthers open, and 
down falls the pollen. 

When the visitors go into the next Fritillaria, 
they carry this pollen with them. It is dusted 
off on to the stigma and is sent down to make the 
ovules into seeds. 

Fritillaria makes her seed-case along beautiful 
lines. She curves it in and wings it out. She packs 
in it six row r s of thin flat seeds. Watch it as it 
grow r s old. See how its material changes. See 
how it gets its seeds scattered. 

When you are older, you can study the different 
kinds of leaves Fritillaria has. You can tell the 
age of the plant by its leaves. Some people, you 
know, can tell a horse’s age by its teeth. Well, one 
who has studied the Fritillaria can tell by looking 
at the leaves, just how r long ago it w T as that that 
plant w r as a tiny seed. There are many things 
you can learn about plants as you grow older. 
You cannot learn everything the first year you 
study them. 

Now, you need only notice that there are differ¬ 
ent kinds of leaves on the same flow r er stalk. 
Notice that they are fixed differently on the stem. 
See what a deep green the stem is and how it wears 
a soft pow r der oyer its color. 

When you hear Fritillaria called “Rice Root,” 
you know r she must be making something odd 
underground. She is. If you dig up a root, 
you will find many little bulbs around it, shining 


104 


WILD FLOWERS 


white like rice. Be careful not to hurt any of them. 
They will all grow into beautiful plants if left 
unharmed. You can transplant some roots and 
start a Fritillaria bed of your own in a shady spot. 

The Spanish Californian children called Fritil¬ 
laria “Mission Bells.” You can easily see why. 
Her brown blossoms are as beautiful as the bronze 
bells that were brought from Spain and hung in 
the Mission’s belfry. They were rung to call 
people to church or on news of gladness or on news 
of sadness. The ringing of the Mission Bells 
always meant that people would come together 
to think about the same thing. Perhaps when the 
Fairies want to call their people together, for 
gladness or for sadness, they sound a chime of 
Fritillaria. 

There is an old story of why the Fritillaria is 
dark and why she has such great big drops of 
syrup in her cup. It runs this way: 

‘‘Before Christ was crucified, the Fritillaria was 
pure white and held her flowers open up to the sky. 
While Christ was hanging on the Cross, all the 
flowers hung their heads and wept. All but 
Fritillaria. She stood proud and straight. When 
Christ died, a darkness passed over the earth. 
Then, Fritillaria suddenly became sorry for her 
pride. She hung down her bells. She changed 
her white dress to dark mourning. She shed tears 
of sorrow. She has not stopped being sorry yet. 
You can see for yourself the down-turned bells, 
the dark dress, and the ever-present tears.” 


FRITILLARIA 


105 


This story is not true, but it teaches us some 
things we should learn. We must never be too 
proud to show sorrow for any one’s sufferings. 
Then, we will never have to shed tears because we 
had been proud. 

Dry eyes to you. 


XX 

SOAP ROOT 


Unspotted blossom, 

A-sway in the heat, 

Thanks for the Castile 
That lies at your feet. 

The flowers we have been studying open their 
hearts to the sun in the morning. Most flowers do 
that. They love the early sunshine. However, 
there are some flowers that seem to hate to get up 
in the morning, just as some little boys and girls 
do. Not you, of course. 

Do you all know the California Soap Root? If 
you have camped out in your summer vacation, 
perhaps you have used the root to clean the grime 
off your hands. You like it because it makes those 
soft suds that make your hands feel nice. Perhaps 
that is just why the plant does not like moisture. 
Perhaps it is afraid that if it touches much water it 
will melt into soapsuds and float away in rainbow 
bubbles for the Fairies. 

At any rate, you do not find its flowers in the 
Spring when the air may be damp. The long 
green leaves are out, spread on warm rocky hi 11- 
sides. They have little earth to draw moisture 
from, but they grow longer all the time. The 
flower does not bloom until summer. Even in that 

106 


SOAP ROOT 


107 



Fig. 20.—Soap Root. (Photographed by A. J. Soares .) 



108 


WILD FLOWERS 


warm season, it does not open until in the after¬ 
noon/ Then the air is sure to be well heated. 

- The Soap Root has six regular floral parts like 
Fritillaria but they are different from hers in 
shape and in color. Botanists say they are 
“tongue shaped.” Does not that describe them 
well? They are long and narrow. They end in a 
roundish point. Their sides curve in. I really 
do not like little girls and boys who stick out their 
tongues. It is not nice to do so. But I think you 
might stick your tongue out just once to see how 
much like it Soap Root’s petal is shaped. Don’t 
get the habit. After all, your red moist tongue is 
not pretty as is Soap Root’s white waxen sepal. 

Because she comes out in warm weather, Soap 
Root does not need an overcoat on her flower buds, 
as Iris does. She sends up many buds along the 
main stem and along branch stems. They spread 
out wide into six white waxy parts, with a purple 
line down the middle. While the sides of the 
floral parts curve inward, the tips curve backward 
from the center. 

The six stamens rise up tall and then bend 
toward the outside. The dark anthers swing 
loosely on their tops. 

The pistil comes up in the center of the stamen 
ring. The little stigma knob at its top divides 
into three lobes. 

Just as some flowers open in the late afternoon, 
some insects come out then to feed. Mrs. White 
Moth sleeps in the early half of the day and comes 


SOAP ROOT 


109 


out late looking for a meal. She becomes almost 
discouraged. Flower after flower she finds closed. 
Can she find no meal? And she so hungry? Her 
wings begin to droop. 

Suddenly up she tosses her head. What are 
those white waxy stars waving in the lower air. 
Stars should be higher up. She fairly flings herself 
through the air to reach them. Aha! Food! And 
a very good food at that. She gains new strength 
and courage. She goes from blossom to blossom, 
and you know what happens. 

Tell us about it, Marion. Is that right, Ted? 
Yes, it is. You children are learning a lot about 
flowers and their habits. Is it not fun? There 
is always something new that you had not noticed 
before. 

When you learn “2 and 2 are 4,” you know that, 
and that’s all there is about it. It always was 
true and always will be true. You just learn it 
and remember it. There is nothing about it to 
make you curious. You have no more interest in it. 

But a growing plant, now, that's different. 
Each day you see something new to you, in leaves 
or stem or flower or visitors. You can be interested 
all your life, no matter how long you live. 

A great Botanist, Sir Joseph Hooker, lived to 
be over ninety years, and he said he was learning 
something new each day when he was that old. 
When he was ninety years old, all the countries of 
the World sent noted Botanists to be at his Birth¬ 
day party. We had one Botanist there from 


110 


WILD FLOWERS 


California; and you just ought to hear what a fine 
party it was. Such fine talking and thinking about 
living , growing things. Oh yes, they had some¬ 
thing good to eat too. You always do have some¬ 
thing good to eat at parties. But it is more fun 
when you also have something good to think. 

But to get back to Soap Root. When her seed- 
case ripens, she does not cast off her sepals and 
petals. She dries them into purple and twists 
them over the seed-case. The seed-case is shaped 
something like a top. See if it spins to send its 
little round seeds out. 

We can easily see what gives Soap Root its 
common name. The root has been used by all 
the peoples who have lived in California. The 
Indians washed themselves with suds made from it. 
They also used it in a way that our Law to-day 
will not let us. The squaws knelt down by a pool 
and made it all white with Soap Root suds. The 
fish did not like that mixture, so they floated on the 
top as if half asleep. Then, the squaws caught 
them in their hands and filled many baskets with 
them. What they did not wish to eat fresh, they 
hung on the bushes to dry. Then, they had dried 
fish when none were to be caught. 

The Spanish Californians used the Soap Root for 
washing their clothes. Washing Day was not 
disliked in their time. It was really a sort of picnic. 
Baskets of soiled clothes were carried down to the 
creek bank. Camp fires were made under large 
copper tubs which were filled with the creek water. 


SOAP ROOT 


111 


The clothes were soaked in the creek water and 
well rubbed with Soap Root. Then they were 
boiled in these copper tubs in Soap Root suds. 
Then, they were rinsed in the clear creek water 
many times. Then, they were spread out on the 
grass. The fresh air and bright sunshine finished 
the work the Soap Root and the creek water began. 
How white those clothes were and how sweet they 
smelled! No Steam Laundry to-day brings us 
back such clean clothes as the open-air laundry 
on the creek bank returned to the Spanish 
Californians. 

I said Washing Day was like a picnic. It was. 
The washers ate their came and tortillas by the 
stream. In those days, people travelled mostly 
on horseback. There were few roads between 
Northern California and Southern California. 
People rode on trails. Most trails followed along 
the creeks. So, the washers often saw a horseman 
coming from a distant part of the State before he 
got to the ranch or to the town. 

They would hail him. He always stopped to 
talk with them. Sometimes he lingered to eat 
with them. He used to tell them all the news of 
the place from which he came. The washers 
used to know the news before the other people 
did. So, when the Americans came to the country 
and the General wanted to learn the latest news 
from Los Angeles, he sent his scout to the washing- 
pool. They used to call this way of getting the 
news “The Washerwoman’s Mail.” 


112 


WILD FLOWERS 


When the Forty-Niners were digging gold in the 
Mountains, they were very glad to have Soap Root 
to wash themselves and their clothes. Soap 
was not so common in those days as it is with us. 
And besides, it would be heavy to pack the miles 
into the mining country. So, they looked on 
Soap Root as one of their friends who made their 
lives easier. 

If you want to have fine glossy hair, use the root 
as the Spanish Californians did. Make a good 
suds of the root and rub it well into your scalp. 
Then, rinse the suds out in several waters and dry 
your hair in the sunshine. 

If you wish to play shampoo-ing, just use it. 
All your customers will find their hair so much 
improved that they will come back for another 
shampoo. You will have a crowd waiting for 
seats. 

Slippery suds! Silken tresses! 


XXI 

AZALEA 


Can it be true you are a fraud? 

That your fair gown’s a luring snare? 

Such dismal rumors are abroad, 

0, Blossom Dear, beware, beware. 

All the flowers you have been studying bloom 
out near the ground; but you know that there 
are flowers on bushes above your heads. One of 
the loveliest flowers you see on your summer 
vacation comes out on a bush. Sometimes its 
flowers are low enough for you to reach; sometimes 
they are higher than a giant’s stretch. This is 
the Azalea. 

You see her lovely bushes along the streams. 
At the end of the branches are crowded many 
large flowers. Some are white with markings of 
pink or of yellow, and others are pink. 

The Azalea has a simple calyx cut into five 
sepals. Her corolla, too, is of five parts, but 
she has joined the lower parts of the petals together. 
No bug can creep in at the bottom. He has to 
enter at the top if he wants to taste her honey. 

Azalea grows very long stamens that reach 
quite outside the corolla. The pistil comes from 
the center and reaches still further out than the 
stamens. Tiny bugs could crawl into Azalea’s 
heart without getting pollen upon them. 

113 


114 


WILD FLOWERS 



Fig. 21.—Azalea. (Photographed by A. J. Soares .) 







AZALEA 


115 


But if a butterfly or a humming-bird dips 
its tongue in, it will surely hit the loose hanging 
anthers and be powdered with the pollen. Then, 
when it goes to the next Azalea, it will first touch 
the top of the pistil and leave there the pollen. 

When the pollen gets to the ovules, the seeds 
begin to grow. You would expect large seeds 
from so large a plant. But no. The Azalea 
seems to want to get many new plants started. 
So she packs her seed-case full of tiny seeds, 
many, many of them. She makes the seed-case 
hard and woody, so that they will be well taken 
care of until they are ready to grow in a new place. 
Look at it. How r do the seeds get out? 

The Azalea does not send out her blossoms 
until the bush is well covered with leaves. Then 
she groups the flowers at the end of the 
branches. They can well be seen by any flying 
creature. They are hidden from the ground by the 
leaves. Any one coming up from the ground has a 
long hard j ourney through her forest of leaves. That 
is why Azalea grows this way. She does not 
care for the insects that live at the ground. 

Look at a leaf. See how thick it is. How r 
heavy its veins are. See how it curves its edges 
dow r nw r ard so that all the rain will drop off. Is 
the low r er side the same as the upper? 

It is said that the honey of the Azalea is poison¬ 
ous; that even the honey in a beehive, which the 
bees have collected from the Azalea is poisonous. 
I do not know if this is true; but little children 


116 


WILD FLOWERS 


had better leave it alone. It is all right to enjoy 
the honey of White Forget-Me-Not, but put 
a red label against that of Azalea. 

Even if it is unwise to touch your tongue to 
Azalea, you can feast your eyes on her beauty. 
She is a handsome addition to our gardens. Her 
form is graceful and her leaves glossy. You 
can bring in a bush from the wilds, or you can 
buy one at the florist’s. It will grow easily and 
give you much pleasure throughout the year. 

If you have one in your garden, watch it to see 
what insects visit it and how they act. Are 
they drowsy as they go away? Or are they as 
lively as when they came? Perhaps people are 
not telling the truth about Azalea’s honey. Per¬ 
haps you can clear her name of this sad tale. 

It is a kind deed to say good tilings about 
people. It is very kind to tell good things when 
some one else has said unkind tilings. 

Good words from you! Good words about you! 









XXII 

JOHNNY-JUMP-UP 

Little smiling golden faces—• 

“How do you do? How do you do?” 

Brightening shade or wind-swept places— 

“Much, much better for seeing you.” 

If there is one of our wild flowers that is loved 
more than another by the boys, I am sure it is 
Johnny-Jump-Up. Girls love it, too, but some of 
them have other favorites. Every boy I have ever 
known, whether his age was seven years or seventy, 
seems to have a tender spot in his heart for this 
golden beauty. 

Johnny-Jump-Up seems to return this affection. 
It reaches up above its leaves and smiles sunnily 
right into our eyes. Then we smile back. That is 
the way, you know, that smiles travel around the 
World. Each person who smiles wins other smiles. 

Wouldn’t it be fun to start a SOCIETY FOR 
SMILES. If each boy and each girl now alive 
would join it, in a few years there would be nothing 
but smiles on this earth. All the old frowns and 
the old scowls would be driven off to the Moon. 
Every one of them would freeze to death up there. 

When I was a little girl, we believed that Johnny- 
Jump-Up knew a lot about friends. We used to 
make it tell us “which friend loved us best.” 
We would name two Johnnies for two friends: 

117 


11S 


WILD FLOWERS 



Fig. 22.—Johnny-Jump-L'p. (Photographed by A. J. Soares .) 






JOHNNY-JUMP-UP 


119 


then lock their heads together, and pull. The 
head that stayed on was the “ friend who loved us 
best.” I hope you children to-day have better 
ways of proving your friends than pulling off a 
flower’s head. Johnny-Jump-Up is much more 
interesting with its head on. 

The corolla, you see, is like pure gold, very much 
like the real gold that the miners dig out of our 
Sierras. Perhaps it takes a great deal of work to 
make this color, for on the back of the two 
up-standing petals, Johnny does not use it. It uses 
instead a rich brown, a color that looks well with 
the gold around it. The honey paths on the lower 
petals are a dark purple. Johnny must take much 
care in getting these colors, for each is very beauti¬ 
ful in itself. Don’t you think they look beautiful 
together? 

Johnny-Jump-Up groups the five petals in a 
way different from that used by Baby-Blue-Eyes or 
the other flowers we have studied. You have 
seen the same shape in the pansies in your home 
garden. Johnny-Jump-Up is a country cousin of 
your garden pansies and is called “Yellow Pansy” 
by some people. 

Two petals, you see, are standing up, two are 
stretching out to the sides, and one, deeply marked, 
spreads out across the bottom. 

If you pull out one of the side petals, you will 
find that the honey paths are only on one half of it. 
On the other half, a little above where it joins 
the rest of the flower, is a brush of fine yellow hairs. 


120 


WILD FLOWERS 


Then look again at a whole blossom. You see 
that the two little brushes on the two side petals 
form an arch over the pistil and stamens. No 
dampness can get in under these little brushes to 
harm the important seed-making parts. 

Look at the lower petal of all. See how it curves 
up just in front of the center, making a little plat¬ 
form. Then, it narrows down behind and makes a 
little hood. If you pull off this petal, you will 
find that the hood holds just what Mrs. Bug is 
seeking. 

Inside the petals are five stamens. The anthers 
stand in a ring, around the pistil. Part of this 
anther ring shows as you look a whole flower in the 
face. It is the little red spot above the lowest 
petal. 

Below it, you see a green sticky knob. That is 
the stigma, the top of the pistil. If you look at 
the whole pistil, you see it is shaped just like a club. 
It grows up through the ring of stamens and lays 
its round green top on that platform of the lowest 
petal. 

Mrs. Bug comes prowling around to find her 
way into that well of honey. She gets a good 
footing on the brushes on the side petals. Then 
she unwinds her long tongue and pushes it under 
the club of the pistil back into the honey. While 
she is wiping her tongue to get off every drop of 
that delicious honey, the anthers open and drop 
their pollen upon it. When she gets to the next 
Johnny-Jump-Up, her pollen-covered tongue hits 


JOHNNY-JUMP-UP 


121 


the stigma laying on the platform. The little 
stigma very kindly dusts the tongue off clean. 
Then, Mrs. Bug can enjoy the honey better, and 
Johnny-Jump-Up’s little waiting ovules receive 
good pollen to make new seed. 

The calyx does not fall off when the corolla 
fades. It holds its five sepals around the growing 
seed-case. The sepals are not all the same size, 
but each generally has a little ear-like lobe at its 
base. What do you suppose that is for? 

Johnny-Jump-Up gets this name from the way 
it springs up above its leaves. You see that each 
flower has a long stem just to itself. It does not 
share its stalk as does Buttercup or White-Forget- 
Me-Not. When you picked a Johnny-Jump-Up, 
did the stem break off clean like a Poppy stem does? 
Did you examine it? If not, then look at it now. 
See the inner cord that seems to be quite separate 
from the outer covering. Twine this inner cord 
around, and you will see that it is made up of a 
number of fibers tied together. That is wiiat 
makes the stem so strong. 

You have all read the story “ United We Are 
Strong.” You remember that the Father in the 
storv knew r it is harder to break a bundle of sticks 
than it is to break one single stick. Johnny- 
Jump-Up, too, knows that if her stem w r as made of a 
single material, it w r ould easily be snapped off by 
wind or animal. So, she weaves a number of 
fibers together and makes a strong body to hold 
up her sunny face. 


122 


WILD FLOWERS 


The leaves of Johnny-Jump-Up are carried on the 
same kind of stems as the flowers. Each leaf, 
too, has a stem of its own, a stem much longer than 
the leaf itself is. Do most leaves have stems longer 
than themselves? Look around your plant friends 
and find out. 

The leaves of Johnny-Jump-Up are pretty to 
draw. You see they are somewhat heart shaped, 
and yet you can draw four lines around them. Be 
sure to make the edge scalloped and put in the big 
veins running from the outside all to the same 
point where the leaf sets on the stem. 

The flowers and buds are easy to draw, too. 
Make the outside line first. Then draw in the 
five petals. Be sure to make the honey paths right, 
so as to give the flower face a happy look. If you 
should criss-cross them, Johnny might wear a 
frown. That would never do. Johnny-Jump-Up 
always smiles. 

Let’s smile with him. 


XXIII 

JOHNNY-JUMP-UP, AGAIN 


Little winsome friendly flowers, 

“How do you do? How do you do? 

Changing gloom to cheerful bowers, 

“Much, much better for seeing you.” 

Not many insects visit Johnny-Jump-Up. 
Perhaps they find her honey too hard to reach. 
The few that do call upon her must be fine helpers, 
for Johnny makes a great deal of seed. Every 
seed seems a good healthy one. You have seen 
how the golden beds on the hillside grow larger 
every year. Do you know how the seeds get 
scattered? 

If you look at the seed-case, you see it is shaped 
like a long egg. Cut it across. There are in it 
three rows of seeds arranged down the middle. 
When those little seeds are ripe and ready to be 
scattered, what do you think happens? You 
will have to watch a Johnny-Jump-Up bed to 
find <out. Perhaps if you put some stems bearing 
ripe seed-cases in a glass of water in a sunny 
window, they may act in the same way they do 
outside. 

As the seed-case dries, it pinches the seeds. 
Every sunny hour it pinches them a little harder. 
Then, it splits open from the top. It spreads out 
into three parts. Each part looks like a tiny canoe 

123 


124 


WILD FLOWERS 



Fig. 23.—Dog Violet 


(.Photographed by A. J. Soares.) 







JOHNNY-JUMP-UP, AGAIN 


125 


with a row of balls down the middle. As the bottom 
of this canoe gets drier and drier, it pinches the 
seeds harder and harder. Finally, the seeds cannot 
stand that pinch one moment longer. Out they pop. 
If you pinch an apple seed between your fingers, 
you will see how Johnny-Jump-Up’s seeds act. 

Out they pop, out from the safe home seed-case 
into the big unknown World. Sometimes they 
go far; sometimes, near. Perhaps one seed pops 
out as Old Rover is passing and lands flop on his 
back. Some day Old Rover will roll on the ground 
and then that Johnny-Jump-Up seed will find 
a new home. 

Perhaps one seed pops down to the ground just 
in front of Mrs. Big Black Ant. “H-m-m,” 
she wrinkles up her nose. “That smells just 
like what we need for dessert to-night.” 

She catches hold of the little end of the seed 
and trundles it home. Now, the Big Black Ant 
Family eat some seeds as we eat cherries. They 
swallow a little of the outside and throw away 
the seed germ. So that little Johnny-Jump-Up 
seed has a good chance to grow in a new spot. 

Perhaps another seed pops out as a Strong 
Wind is passing. Off it sails until Strong Wind 
stops to get a new breath. Then, it drops down 
with a bang. Little it cares for bangs, as long 
as it gets to a bit of good soft earth. 

Some seeds have bad luck. They fall on hard 
ground or perhaps on the State Highway. They 
can find no soft earth to creep under so they wither 


126 


WILD FLOWERS 


up in the warm sunshine. Others are eaten 
whole, outside, inside and all, by some starving 
insect. But even with these losses, Johnny- 
Jump-Up gets a great number of seeds scattered 
to start new plants. 

Don’t you wish we human beings were born 
knowing just how to live our lives? We have 
to be taught everything. How r to feed ourselves, 
how to dress ourselves, even how to get around. 

This is not so with Young Seed. When she 
falls on the ground, she lies awhile in the w^arm 
sunshine. Then the dew or the fog or the rain 
makes her seek shelter. She works herself down 
under the loose earth into a warm nest. Here 
she lies quiet until the raindrops find her. 

“ You’d better grow up. You’d better grow 
up,” they whisper. They patter around her, 
always keeping time to their song, “ You’d better 
grow up. You’d better grow up. ” 

After a while, Johnny-Jump-Up seed thinks 
she’d better. She is not quite sure she can stand 
up in that cheerful place the happy raindrops come 
from. She sends out little roots that will hold 
her steady, just as we, when we are camping, put 
ropes to hold our tent steady. These little roots are 
better than tent ropes. They drink up food from 
the earth for Johnny-Jump-Up seed. We never 
expect our tent ropes to bring us food, do we? 

Then she sends up a tiny stem to the earth’s 
surface. She thinks she likes that fresh air, 
so she sends out two pale leaves to try it. They 


JOHNNY-JUMP-UP, AGAIN 


127 


are all rolled up at first lest the air be cold. The 
sun’s rays warm them and they open wide. The 
sun encourages them, and the whole plant stretches 
up into beautiful golden flowers that reflect the 
sun’s glory. Then, they make their seed and the 
plants life circle is completed. 

Even if there was a total loss of seed one year, 
we would still have some Johnny-Jump-Ups the 
next. The plant does not die when the flowers 
and leaves disappear from the top of the ground. 
The root stock below ground is still alive and 
strong. It lies resting until the early rains come 
and coax it to send up new leaves. You will 
find it a tough root, built in the same way the stem 
is. You can dig it up carefully and transplant 
it to your garden. 

Johnny-Jump-Up has several sisters also natives 
of California. I am sure that you know more 
than one of them. They wear different colored 
gowns—white, yellow, blue, or purple. They 
have different markings. They shape their leaves 
differently. Some choose sunny spots, while others 
hide in the shade. Not one rises as tall as Johnny- 
Jump-Up does nor smiles so sunnily. But they 
all make their corollas the same shape. They 
all make their seeds in the same way. They all 
scatter them in the same way. The violets 
and the pansies in your Mother’s garden scatter 
their seeds in this way. Just watch them. 

It is a plant’s life work to make good seeds and 
to get them scattered afar. The plant that knows 



128 


WILD FLOWERS 


how to make the best seed and how to get it farthest 
off does the best work. Just from watching our 
fields, we know that our dear friend, Johnny-Jump- 
Up is a successful worker. She makes me think 
of a verse we used to have to learn in school when 
I was a little girl. 

“Let us then be up and doing, 

With a heart for any fate; 

Still achieving, still pursuing, 

Learn to labor and to wait.”— Longfellow. 

Johnny-Jump-Up is surely “up and doing” 
and she knows how to rest in between times. 
You never see her frowning, no matter what 
wind blows. 

Let’s follow her. Let’s all “be up and doing.” 


XXIV 

FAREWELL TO SPRING 


Changeable Maiden 
With beauty laden, 

Dost thou wish to rival thy kin ? 
Or dost thou praise them 
By trying to daze them 
With varieties in thy spin? 


If any of you boys or girls wish to become a 
famous Botanist, you better begin now to study 
the Farewell to Spring. 

A Botanist, you know, is a person who has 
studied plants long and who knows their habits. 
The famous Botanists of the World have all been 
men; but that is no reason why a girl should not 
plan to become one. It used to be that all the 
Doctors were men. Now, there are women doctors. 
It does not matter whether you are a man or a 
woman. It does matter if you do your work well. 

So, Helen, if you want to be a Botanist, just 
start in now and watch the plants. The more 
you find out about them when you are a child, 
the easier you will find it to learn more about them 
later. Plants are like people. If we are friends 
from childhood, we feel we know them well. 

Now, take the Farewell to Spring. It is a 
native of our Pacific Coast. Most of its family 
are natives of California. The older Botanists 

129 


130 


WILD FLOWERS 



Fig. 24.—Farewell to Spring. (Photographed bij A. J. Soares .) 




FAREWELL TO SPRING 


131 


did not have the chance to study it while it was 
growing. It does not always grow the same. 

No matter where the Poppy and the Baby-Blue- 
Eyes grow, they look the same to us. Perhaps a 
little smaller if the ground is dry. Perhaps a 
little larger after a wet winter. But always, they 
are our same old friends. 

Not so, the Farewell to Spring. If the winter has 
been a dry one, it will bring out one colored flower. 
If there has been much rain, it will change this 
color. If it grows on a dry hillside, it differs from 
where it grows in the shady grass. 

The corolla always has four broad petals, but 
sometimes they are white, sometimes, pink; some¬ 
times a pale purple. Sometimes the edges of the 
petals are smooth; sometimes, they have little 
notches; sometimes they are deeply cleft. Some¬ 
times they have a deep crimson spot down inside 
near their honey bowls; sometimes, they have a 
paler red spot; sometimes they have a white spot; 
sometimes they have no spot. Sometimes on the 
same plant, there will be differently spotted flowers. 
They certainly are changeable. But one thing is 
certain. They never are yellow. And another 
thing is equally certain. They are always beautiful. 

The calyx too acts oddly. It does not open wide 
when the corolla bursts out and put its sepals 
around the flower. It just splits on one side and 
hangs down on the other side below the open 
corolla. Ifjy° u take a calyx off, you see it is 
cone-shaped. 


132 


AVILl) FLOWERS 


There are eight stamens, but they are not all 
alike. The four standing opposite the petals are 
shorter. Those standing between the petals are 
longer. The anthers are a lovely deep crimson. 
They add much to the beauty of the flower. 

The pistil rises from the center of the sta¬ 
mens. At its top, the stigma divides into four 
parts and curves them backward as a Lily 
curves her petals. You can easily see them in 
the picture. 

Mrs. Bug, when she comes visiting, must get a 
lot of pollen dusted over her. When she goes to 
the center of the next Farewell to Spring, she will 
surely brush against the spreading stigma and leave 
some pollen on it. With such healthy looking 
anthers and such a fine looking stigma, very 
good seeds ought to be made. They are. 

The seed-case is different from, those we have 
been studying together. It grows long and slender. 
Lots of seed-cases do that. It gets narrower at 
both ends. Some other seed-cases do that. It 
has four sides like a box. Few seed-cases have 
that shape. See if you can learn how it sends the 
seeds out to the world. 

Farewell to Spring comes in the late Spring or 
early Summer. That is how it gets its name. 
Then the ground is dry. Your Mother need not 
fear that you will get wet feet if you go out to study 
these flowers. 

You will find the leaves differing in shape. Some 
will be longer and narrower than others. Some 


FAREWELL TO SPRING 


133 


will have a smooth edge. Some will have tiny 
teeth along the edge. 

The stalk of the flower bud will nod over, as if 
the bud was too heavy for it to hold up. As the 
sun warms it, the bud bursts open into the beauti¬ 
ful blossom. Then, the stalk stands up straight. 
It is so proud of the loveliness that it forgets the 
weight. It sways back and forth, showing off 
the beauty. 

The Butterflies, skimming through the air, see 
this movement. They stop short. 

“Is this one of our sisters?” they whisper softly. 
“Let us go down and see.” 

As softly as snow falling, they descend to the 
side of Farewell to Spring. 

“Oh, it’s a flower. But what a lovely flower! 
As lovely as any of us.” And that is the best 


compliment a Butterfly can pay. 

“And I smell a dainty meal,” whispers one who 
had not got up in time to eat breakfast before 
they left home. 

In a second, each Butterfly is inside a Farewell to 
Spring. And both beautiful insect and beautiful 
flower nod together in the breeze. 

Farewell-to-Spring does not die in one day. It 
wraps its petals together at night time. Next 
morning, it opens them vide. The same flower 
blooms for several days, always closing at sunset. 

Every day, the Butterflies visit it. Every day, 
it has its delicate feast ready for them. Both 


134 


WILD FLOWERS 


beautiful insect and beautiful blossom are helped 
by the friendship. 

It is such a joy to have good helpful friends. Is 
it not? The way we gain them is to be helpful 
to them. And to smile and to be just as thought¬ 
ful as we can. 

Many friends to you! 


XXV 

WILD CUCUMBER 


“I can’t bear a tattery World/’ 

Cucumber complained with a frown, 

Then her vine o’er the tin cans she whirled 
And draped the old fence in green gown. 

“I can’t bear an old-timey seed-case,” 

Cucumber exclaimed in high mirth. 

“My babes’ wraps are satin and reed-lace, 

But their cradles shock the Old Earth.” 

Suppose, Frank, you had no marbles to play 
with and marble time came around. What would 
you do? 

“Buy some,” you say. But suppose you lived 
miles away from a store. What would you do 
then? 

u Do without?” Oh, then you would lose lots 
of fun. 

Most of the children in the Spanish Californian 
days lived on big ranches. They had very few 
store toys. They had plenty of playthings they 
found right on the ranch. 

When Francisco and Mateo felt marble time in 
the air, they took out their bags of Wild Cucumber 
seeds and played the same marble games that you 
play to-day, Frank and Matthew. 

And when Maria and Clara wanted to play jack- 
stones, they took out their silken bags of Wild 

135 


136 


WILD FLOWERS 



Fig. 25.—Wild Cucumber. (Photographed by J. A. Soares .) 





WILD CUCUMBER 


137 


Cucumber seeds and played the very same games 
that you play to-day, Mary and Clara. 

You know the Wild Cucumber, do you not? 
You have seen it climbing over fences and bushes 
and rocks. What does it do that for? Just 
because it loves the sunshine. If it lay along the 
ground, the other plants would grow higher than it 
and would shut it off from the sun’s rays. 

The Wild Cucumber will not stand for that. It 
must have direct sunshine. 

It takes some young branches and thrusts them 
out straight. When they touch a bush or a fence 
rail, they begin to curl around so as to get a 
better hold. Just like you. When you are walk¬ 
ing with your Father, you do not just touch your 
hand to his hand. You curl your fingers around 
his fingers and hold fast. 

These curled little branches of plants we call 
“ tendrils.” When Mrs. Wild Cucumber gets one 
set of tendrils around a support, it holds her steady. 
Then she can grow up higher and out farther. 
She soon fastens a new set of tendrils around 
something else strong. She grows up still higher 
and out still farther. Sometimes, the vine is thirty 
feet long. How long is that? Try measuring 
it. Is this schoolroom that long? 

By growing so far, Wild Cucumber often covers 
up old heaps of trash that some careless man has 
thrown out. Of course, no boy in school would do 
such an untidy thing. He is learning to be too 
good an American to spoil the looks of the Country. 


138 


WILD FLOWERS 


Wild Cucumber can do all this beauty work 
because she can hold herself steady by those little 
curled branches. If you think the tendrils are as 
weak as they look, just try to pull a Wild Cucumber 
loose. You need to be strong yourself, do you not? 
That shows what living in the sunshine will do 
for a creature. If Wild Cucumber had not loved 
sunshine, what would have happened ? She would 
be flat on the ground and every animal would walk 
upon her. 

Besides her tendrils, Mrs. Wild Cucumber has 
other surprises for you children. You have seen 
her creamy flowers spread along a little branch 
held up to the sun. Now after studying so many 
other flowers, you no doubt think that you know 
all about these small blossoms. 

“They are grouped together/’ you say, “and 
held up high so that they will catch the eye of 
the passing Bug.” 

That sounds all right, let us see if it is true. 
Did you ever see any Bugs on Wild Cucumber’s 
flowers? You have not learned all about her 
flowers yet. They hold a secret. We all love 
a secret, do we not? Let’s look closer. 

“Some corollas have five petals and some 
have seven.” Yes, that is right, Ethel. But 
there is more for you to see. 

Look down the vine. See that little flower 
sitting all alone, cuddled close to the stem. Does 
it look just like the flowers clustered above? 

Look at them again. Closely. Pick out the 


WILD CUCUMBER 


139 


different parts. You can find the sepals. And 
the petals. And the stamens, with lots and lots of 
pollen; but— Why, Goodness me! There is no 
pistil and no stigma to catch the pollen. How¬ 
ever is Mrs. Wild Cucumber going to make her 
seed? Poor Plant! Poor Plant! 

Do not worry about Mrs. Wild Cucumber’s 
seed-making. She knows what she is * doing. 

Look again at that lonely little flower low dowm 
on the stem. You will see below the white petals 
a little bur and above a sticky knob of a stigma. 
This stigma is just waiting for pollen from the many 
flowers above to fall upon it. Then, it will start 
seed-making. 

Mrs. Wild Cucumber does not seem to care 
for the aid of insects. She makes so much pollen 
so that the wind can carry it to the little stigma 

waiting below. If the wind wastes some of it, 

> 

there will still be plenty to reach the stigma and 
make seeds. Mrs. Wild Cucumber has learned 
that if one flower attends to one branch of the seed¬ 
making and another flower attends to the other 
branch, she will get better seeds. 

What a wonderful seed-case she makes! Do 
you think there is much chance of her seeds being 
harmed? How large and round it is! Prickles 
all over it! Oh, did they hurt your hand, Edwin? 
Well, just think how much worse they must 
have hurt old Bossy’s tongue. She will not 
try to eat them again. That is why Mrs. Wild 
Cucumber put the prickles on. 


140 


WILD FLOWERS 


Her leaves look tender. Any animal might 
choose them for breakfast. If he thought the 
seed-case was like an apple, he might make a bite 
at it. But one taste of those prickles is enough. 
No animal is foolish enough to try them a second 
time. The seed-case is let alone on the vine. 
In its cozy nest, the seeds grow bigger and bigger. 

When the seeds are ripe, the seed-case splits 
open from the top. It curves the parts back 
like a Lily curves her petals. It then looks like 
a lovely white waxen lily. Inside, it has a beautiful 
lace work which holds the seeds firmly and yet 
gives them plenty of room in which to grow. 

The seeds grow to be beautiful, just as the vine 
does and the seed-case does. Wild Cucumber 
seems to be a great lover of beauty. She improves 
everything she touches. Her seeds are large and 
handsome, but that does not seem to satisfy her. 
She gives them an extra beautiful polish, as if 
she means them for marbles or jack-stones. 

However, we know that Wild Cucumber has 
no thought of children’s games when she is polish¬ 
ing up her seeds. She makes these beautiful 
seeds to start a new strong root. Did your Father 
ever dig up a Wild Cucumber root? Were you 
not surprised at what he found? The vine and 
the leaves look so delicate that one would expect 
a small root. But not with Mrs. Wild Cucumber. 
Her course of life seems to be one surprise after 
another. She wants to grow out early in the year. 
She has to have a big store house of food. She 


WILD CUCUMBER 


141 


needs this not only for her early start, but to give 
her strength enough to grow out so far. No 
living thing can do good work without good food. 

So she makes an unusually large root. Often, 
she is called a Big Root.” Again, some people 
call her “Man-in-the-Ground,” because her root 
is sometimes as large as a man’s body. 

This root starts growing early in the year, 
whether there has been any rain or not. Wild 
Cucumber’s first green leaves come up when 
many of the other early flowers are still sleeping. 
She proves 


“Early to bed, 

Early to rise, 

Makes a ‘plant 5 healthy, 

Wealthy and wise . 55 

Tell us yourself how she is “wealthy and wise.” 

She goes steadily about her life work. Every 
part that she uses in this life work she makes 
beautiful. That is a fine thing for a child to do, 
as well as for a plant. 

Do steady work. Be so happy doing it that the 
World is more beautiful for your being in it. 

Success to you and your work and its beauty! 









